The Recruit
by Beregond5
Summary: G1. Sequel to Dweller In Darkness. Optimus and his team return from their mission in Santorini, and they bring someone else along with them. Now the Autobots have to accept the new addition in their ranks, or this will be a trying co-existence.
1. Back Home

Things at the Ark were uneventful, just like Prowl promised Optimus Prime before the Autobot leader departed for Greece on Skyfire. In fact, Prowl made sure that everything operated smoothly and efficiently within the base, and he even organized some maintenance checks on the Ark's systems and Teletraan I. As the second-in-command reasoned, they had to take advantage of the fact that the Decepticons weren't much of a threat for the present.

Of course, there were those Autobots who didn't agree with Prowl's reasoning at all, and they tried to avoid taking up the errands the tactician had in store for them. They failed miserably though.

"Inferno, couldn't we just--?" Sunstreaker started.

"No," the fire truck replied dryly.

"But there's this thing that we…" Sideswipe insisted.

"The answer's still 'No'. Prowl gave ya an order, and I'm here to make sure ya follow it," Inferno said and held up his nozzle. "If ya have any further objections, I'll have ta… cool ya down. Any questions?"

"You made yourself crystal clear," Powerglide said with a sigh. He resumed with unclogging the plumbing system underneath the washracks, muttering under his breath something that could be translated as: "Where did all this mud come from anyway?"

"This is ridiculous!" Sideswipe exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air in exasperation. The wet scrub he was holding splashed water in every direction at that motion, but the red Lamborghini didn't care about that at present. "What's the point of cleaning the washracks when they'll just get dirty again in the next couple of hours?"

"What's the point of drinkin' energon if you'll just get hungry again?" Inferno countered. "Now carry on. The less ya complain, the more work you'll do."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Sideswipe pointed out wryly. "How come Prowl, Smokescreen, Trailbreaker, Ironhide and Red Alert aren't down here, sharing the joy with the rest of the jolly crew?"

Inferno shrugged. "Red said the five of them would be in the control room on a meeting. That's all."

"Great. It seems like everyone's having fun," Sunstreaker said sarcastically, hammering back in place several metal plates that barely hung on the wall.

------------------

"Red, I understand your concern," Prowl said. He was sitting on a chair, facing the security chief with quite the serious expression. "However, Wheeljack has already said that the installation of a security camera inside the volcano is seriously impractical. The heat would damage any cameras we place there after a period of time."

"Didn't Perceptor come up with any new heat-resistant alloys that would fix that problem?" Red Alert asked.

"If he did, he never informed me," Prowl answered. "Besides, even if there was such an alloy, we would have to readjust and reroute several power lines so that the camera remained online at all hours – an unwise thing. It would be preferable to keep as much energy as possible on the main areas of the Ark, since they're more susceptible to an attack."

"Which reminds me," Ironhide said, leaning forward on his own chair. "Grapple and Hoist contacted me just now. They found several guns and cannons out of order while doin' a maintenance check on the outside perimeter."

"So the Ark is even more vulnerable than we thought," Smokescreen said thoughtfully. "Until Wheeljack returns to fix them, I suggest an increase of patrols around the base."

"The Dinobots can do that," Trailbreaker said, "They won't even let a fly pass."

"Agreed," Prowl said with a nod before turning to Red Alert once again. "Meanwhile, you and Huffer will have to make a maintenance check on the surveillance systems. If there's any problem, I want to know about it at once."

"Of course," Red Alert replied, already opening his communication frequencies to contact Huffer.

"Good," the tactician replied and faced Ironhide. "Now, as for the training drills you've proposed, I think we can…"

"Attention. Attention. Incoming transmission from Optimus Prime," Teletraan I's voice cut in.

The officers stood up at once at the news. "On screen," Prowl instructed, holding his door panels proudly behind his back.

Teletraan I complied, and the image of Optimus Prime appeared on the monitor.

"Prowl, do you read me?"

"Loud and clear, Prime," Prowl answered. "Ironhide, Red Alert, Smokescreen and Trailbreaker are here as well."

"That's good to know," Optimus said, his smile audible in his voice. "I trust things have been quiet in the Ark this past week?"

"Too quiet, actually," Ironhide said, "My circuits are itchin' for a good fight."

"I'm sure they are, old friend," Optimus said, laughing. "However, that will have to wait. I called to tell you that the mission at the Greek Islands was successful and we're currently returning to the Ark. We should be back in a quarter of an hour or so."

"Understood, Prime," Prowl replied. "Did you find out who sent those alien orbs?"

"That and a lot more, Prowl. That is why you'll have to gather all the Autobots in the control room," Optimus said. "I want to debrief you as soon as Skyfire lands."

"It will be done."

"Thank you, Prowl. Optimus out."

"See you in fifteen minutes, Prime. Prowl out." The tactician answered and ended the transmission.

"And a lot more?" Trailbreaker wondered aloud. "What did Prime mean by that?"

"I suppose we'll find out soon enough," Prowl said. Pressing a button on the control panel, the tactician activated Teletraan I's speakers.

"Attention. All available Autobots please proceed to the main control room. Drop everything."

"With pleasure!" Sideswipe's voice sounded through another transmission, followed closely behind by the sound of a wet scrub landing unceremoniously on the floor.

-----------------

All the Autobots in the Ark complied with Prowl's command. In less than fifteen minutes, everyone was in the main control room, whispering amongst themselves as they tried to figure out what was going on.

"From what I gather, Optimus and the others are coming back," Hoist whispered to Grapple and Inferno. "I heard Red Alert say something like that just a few moments ago."

"That was one heck of a quick trip then," Inferno commented, "It's been barely a week since they left fer the Greek Islands."

"Nevertheless, they're coming back."

"I guess that means we'll get to know what those orbs were trying to detect," Skids said in a thoughtful manner, overhearing the conversation.

"Well, I hope we get to know soon," Gears muttered, "All this standing up is paining my joints."

"Do you think they got us any souvenirs from Greece?" Sideswipe wondered aloud, tapping his chin as though thinking.

"Who cares? As long as Prime gets back and says I don't have to clean water pipes anymore, I'll be one happy mech," Powerglide murmured.

"Besides, I doubt they could bring anything as good-looking as this," Sunstreaker declared with a grin, striking a majestic pose.

Sideswipe sniggered at that, while the rest of the Autobots just shook their heads.

"Hey, guys, I think I can hear Skyfire," Huffer said in that moment.

Sure enough, the sound of the Valkyrie's engines soon reverberated through the Ark. Prowl stiffened instinctively, holding his doors high behind his back in readiness to welcome Prime back.

Red Alert, on the other hand, stiffened for different reasons. The detectors on his helm flashed brightly.

"Prowl, I'm picking up a strange energy signal," he said softly.

The tactician's optics reflected his frowning expression. "Is it a Decepticon one?"

"No," Red Alert replied, "It's different. More powerful than any other signal I know."

"Could it be an alien one?" Smokescreen asked, regarding the other two officers curiously.

"It's the most logical answer," Prowl answered with a nod. "Other than that though, your guess is as good as mine."

It was then that all the Autobots heard their companions' footsteps coming closer. Everyone stood in attention, knowing that the first one to enter the control room would be Optimus Prime. But their sensors also picked up the strange signal Red Alert sensed moments before, and none of them could understand what it could be. They just hoped it didn't mean trouble.

They got their answer when Optimus Prime and the rest of the group finally walked in. Though everyone saluted Optimus, their gaze shifted instead to the humanoid creature that was between Perceptor and Skyfire. She – for the alien definitely looked like a female – had flesh-like hands and face, with short blond bangs, a small nose and full red lips. She was as tall as an average Cybertronian, and almost all of her body was covered in an organic black material. But the most peculiar thing about her was her eyes. They resembled a human's at first glance, but they were missing the characteristic black pupil, seeming like a pair of bright green orbs.

"Now that's what I call odd," Powerglide whispered before he could help it.

"You can say that again," Hoist answered just as quietly.

Her thin eyebrows twitched to a subtle frown, a clear sign that she heard both Autobots. Still, she didn't say anything. She simply stood next to Perceptor, keeping her expression neutral while Optimus made the introductions.

"Autobots, this is Faera, a Sadjen. She's the one the alien orbs were trying to locate, for one of her own people wishes to see her dead. More than that, the Decepticons were also interested in her, believing that they could use her as a weapon against us. Fortunately, we found her first, and she helped us when the other Sadjen and Megatron joined forces. Because of that, it's time for us to repay the favour."

"Is Prime going to say what I think he's going to say?" Red Alert murmured close to Smokescreen, slightly alarmed.

"I bet he is," Smokescreen replied, his optics locked on the Sadjen.

"Autobots," Prime continued, "I want you to welcome Faera within our ranks, for she's agreed to help us on our war with the Decepticons. That means you'll have to help her settle in the Ark as comfortably as possible. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Prime," all the Autobots answered in unison.

"Good," Optimus said, smiling kindly underneath his mask. "Autobots, dismissed."

As everyone went back to their chores, talking and commenting about the new addition in the team, the Autobot leader turned to Bumblebee. "You'd better take the Witwickys back to their home, Bumblebee. The trip was long and they'll need rest in order to get over their jet lag."

"Right, Optimus," the yellow minibot replied and transformed to his Beetle mode. The Witwickys entered Bumblebee with a small nod of thanks toward Optimus, since they were too tired to say much else. Once they'd put their seat belts on, Bumblebee drove out of the Ark and out of sight.

"Jazz," the Autobot leader said, this time facing the saboteur, "I want you to escort Faera and show her the Ark."

"Sure thing, Prime."

"And then you'll have some rest too," Ratchet added, looking hard at Jazz. "You're still recovering, don't forget that."

"It will take more than Megatron's fusion cannon to offline me, doc," Jazz replied, grinning. "Then again, I know better then going against your orders."

"So all those years of beating some sense into you with a wrench have finally paid off," Ratchet deadpanned and beckoned Mirage to follow him to the repair-bay so that he could fix the spy's cloaking device.

Jazz just chuckled, then motioned a wary-looking Faera to walk with him. Prowl, Ironhide and the other officers, on the other hand, stayed as though rooted on the spot, regarding Optimus Prime in a curious manner.

"Prime, I believe a more thorough debriefing is in order," Prowl suggested.

"Indeed," Optimus agreed. "That's why I want you to step into my office for a few moments. It won't take long."

The officers exchanged a glance at that, but they complied. They were curious to hear what Optimus had to say.

* * *

"Home, sweet home," Sparkplug declared with a sigh, resting his back on the co-driver's seat inside Bumblebee. "I'll be sleeping for a week."

"You and I both," Spike agreed. "I'm glad that the whole thing's over, at least."

"I don't know, Spike. I think it's only begun," Bumblebee's voice sounded from the dashboard. "We have Faera now, remember?"

"Are you saying she's going to be a problem?" Spike asked in surprise. "So she'll be out of her depth for a couple of days. She'll adjust, right?"

"Spike, Faera is already starting out with one major drawback: she's not an Autobot. She's not even a Cybertronian," Sparkplug pointed out. "Granted, she saved Bumblebee's life and Optimus accepted her as a new recruit, but that doesn't mean anything."

"She'll have to gain the other Autobots' trust," the teen said, catching on.

"Yup," Bumblebee said. "And something tells me it's not gonna be easy… for both parties."

* * *

"And this is the spare parts' storage room," Jazz said. He punched the enter code so that Faera could have a peek through the open door.

The Sadjen leaned forward in a cautious manner, craning her neck to get a closer look.

"That's a lot of spare parts," she said. Indeed, the room was filled up to the roof with all kinds of plating, gears and consoles that were vital to a Cybertronian's functions.

"Yeah, and we need every last one of them," Jazz replied. "It makes Ratchet's job easier."

She nodded her understanding. "It must be difficult for one mech to tend to all of you."

"Believe me, it used to be even more difficult. Now he has First Aid to help him, and there's always Wheeljack, Perceptor and Hoist who can lend a hand if there's an emergency," Jazz said and closed the door with a smile. "So… shall we continue on?"

"Sure," she said, rewarding the saboteur with a polite smile of her own.

Jazz charmingly offered his arm like a gentleman escort should, a gesture that surprised Faera. She regarded the saboteur for a few moments, contemplated matters, then finally wrapped her arm around his, very much like a lady.

A very guarded lady at that. Though her expression revealed no such thing, Jazz could feel the warm flesh-like fingers twitching, especially when they passed by Grapple and Skids. The two Autobots certainly didn't mean it, nevertheless they stared at the Sadjen in a not-so-subtle manner.

As soon as Grapple and Skids turned around the corner, Jazz turned to Faera. "You don't like the attention, do you?" he asked.

She relaxed a bit, a good sign. "Not really," she admitted. "It feels strange being surrounded by others after all this time."

Jazz admitted to himself that that made sense. Back in Santorini, Faera had to live on her own, as far away from prying eyes as possible. Now not only she was out in the open after years of isolation, she had to get used to the fact that she would be part of a large, unfamiliar faction.

_Well, _Jazz figured, _the sooner she gets to know the place, the sooner she'll adjust. _So, both saboteur and the Sadjen continued on with the tour, the one guiding and the other following.

That was something that tired Jazz though. Soon, he felt a dull pain in his midsection, discomfiting his movements.

_Man, Ratchet wasn't kiddin' when he said I needed rest._

Still, Jazz intended to complete the tour, and thus kept a pleasant face in spite of everything.

It was in vain though. She finally stopped and looked at him in concern.

"Your wound is giving you trouble, isn't it?" she asked. "The sound of your breathing has changed."

"Yeah… I guess I overestimated my strength," Jazz admitted. He had forgotten that Faera's senses were in many ways sharper than a Cybertronian's, so she could pick up anything that didn't sound right. "But don't sweat it," he added as he saw her frowning, "We're getting' close to the common room. We can rest there for a while."

"Common room?" Faera echoed.

"Oh, yeah… Everyone's favourite room," Jazz answered, a big grin forming on his lip components. "It's where we hang out when we're off duty."

"I see," Faera said. "So what do you do there?"

Jazz half-shrugged. "Whatever we like. We have our daily energon rations there, we play games, we talk… We even throw parties when the occasion calls for one."

"Parties?" She pondered on that for a second. "You mean like celebrations?"

"Well, yeah. Didn't you have those back at your home?" Jazz asked, his turn to feel perplexed.

She shook her head. "It was against our ways."

Now Jazz knew that _that _wouldn't do. "We'll just have to remedy that then," he declared. He winced when he noticed the Sadjen's expression clouding, though.

"Uh… I hope I didn't offend you," he said apologetically.

"You didn't," she said at once. "I simply realised that there are a lot of things I have to learn."

Jazz understood.

"Don't worry. You'll get used to life in the Ark in no time."

The words barely flowed out of the saboteur's lips when the door to the common room hissed open. And the moment he and Faera stepped inside, about a dozen pair of optics instantly locked curiously on the Sadjen.

"I suppose I'll have to get used to the stares first," Faera said under her breath.

"Yeah, can't do anythin' about that," Jazz agreed just as softly. He scanned the room and pointed to his left. "Come on, I can see an empty table at the corner there."

----------------

Optimus sat at his desk, keeping his arms crossed and waiting patiently for any of the other officers to speak. None of them said a word while the Autobot leader recounted the Santorini incident, and Optimus didn't know what to think. He simply hoped for the best.

It was Prowl who finally broke the silence.

"We need to put her abilities to the test. If we're to place her in a position among the Autobot ranks, we'll need to assess her strengths and weaknesses first."

"Understood," Optimus said. "Ironhide, you'll test her fighting skills."

"You got it, Chief," the veteran Autobot said.

"Trailbreaker, you will assess her scouting abilities."

"Okay."

"Smokescreen, you'll do a psychological profile on her."

"Of course," the blue Datsun said.

"Red Alert, you'll observe and record everything from the monitors."

"Yes, Prime."

"Prowl, I'll leave it up to you to organise everything accordingly."

Prowl nodded his acknowledgement. "I'll give you the results by the end of the week."

"Very well. You can start at your leisure. Meanwhile, I'll contact the mayor of Portland to let him know of Faera's presence. The last thing we need is humans panicking at the sight of her."

"Now that would be a familiar scenario," Smokescreen noted dryly.

"Except she doesn't look the robot-in-disguise type," Ironhide added.

"Indeed," Optimus said. "Dismissed."

Most of the officers nodded their acknowledgement and walked out, talking amongst themselves. Prime heard Trailbreaker comment something to the likes of: "Well, Sideswipe got his souvenir", but he decided not to say anything about that. He focused on Prowl instead, because his second-in-command didn't get up from his seat. In fact, it was obvious that there was something troubling him.

Neither of them spoke, waiting patiently till they were left alone. As soon as the door closed behind Red Alert, Optimus knew that he could talk to Prowl without being interrupted.

"So what was it so important that you didn't want the others to hear?" he asked.

Prowl shook his head. "I was hoping you would tell _me_."

"What do you mean?"

"Prime, you've already stated that Sadjens are virtually indestructible. If the second one is still with Megatron, like you suspect, that makes Faera our only defence against him."

"Affirmative," Optimus said. "That was why she offered her services."

Prowl regarded Optimus intently. "Prime, I've rarely seen you so willing to place such trust on someone you hardly know," he said. "What made the difference this time?"

_Ah… so now we come down to it._

"I'm afraid I can't tell you, Prowl," Optimus answered. "All I can say is that she's trusted me with something important. The least I can do is show her the same amount of trust."

Prowl's expression became thoughtful as the tactician pondered on the answer. In the end, though, he seemed satisfied, for he stood and bowed slightly his head.

"It's good enough for me. I'll see to it that she faces no problems while in the Ark."

"I was hoping you'd say that," the Autobot leader replied. "Thank you, my friend."

Prowl just smiled a bit and exited. He had to make all the proper arrangements for the newcomer.

------------------

"Are you feeling stronger now?" Faera asked, regarding Jazz curiously as she walked beside him once again.

"Yeah. Like I said, I just needed a break," Jazz answered. "I'm surprised you didn't want anythin' to eat, though. I figured you'd be starvin' by now."

She laughed. "I don't get hungry that easily. Besides, I'd rather wait for sunrise."

"Oh? Why's that?"

Faera didn't answer this time. She stopped on her tracks and sniffed the air, clearly smelling something. Jazz stopped too, not sure what the problem was.

"The scent of sulphur is stronger here. We're close to the volcano, aren't we?"

Jazz smiled before he could help it. "You're good. It's that way," he said, pointing to his left.

"Can we go there?" she asked.

"Sure thing," the saboteur answered, showing her the way. In a matter of minutes, they were standing at the edge of a loft, looking at the rocky walls of the volcano. The dark sienna surface glistened under the dim light of the rising moon.

"What do you think?" Jazz said.

Faera stepped closer to the edge, her eyes scanning the wall meticulously.

"It will do," she said with a smile and jumped over the chasm.

Alarmed, Jazz got ready to use his grappling hook to catch her, but she simply grabbed onto a ledge across from the loft and pulled herself upwards. Jazz watched her as she examined the ledge further, noticing that it was wide enough to fit her like a protective cocoon.

"Wait…" Jazz said, realisation catching up with him. "You're plannin' on sleepin' there?"

She turned around, looking at Jazz quite perplexed. "Why not?"

He frowned. "We're not out in the open. You could use one of our spare berths."

"I'll be fine. It's no different from my den in Santorini," she said with a shrug.

_But different from your home, I take it, _Jazz thought, noticing her choice of words. Nevertheless, he decided to indulge her for now. "Okay, if you say so. But let me know if you change your mind."

"I will," she promised. She laid down on her side, using her arm as a headrest. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Jazz said. He turned on his heel and was about to walk out, when Faera's voice stopped him.

"Jazz?"

He faced her again, seeing that she propped herself on her elbow to look at him. "Yeah?"

"Thank you for the company. I appreciate it."

"Oh." He smiled. "You're welcome. Talk to you tomorrow."

And with that he left, heading towards his own dorms. It was time for some proper recharge.


	2. Meetings

The sun was barely up when Optimus set off in search of Faera. To his surprise, however, he couldn't find any trace of her, though his sensors clearly indicated that she was close by. In fact, none of the Autobots that circulated at this time of day had seen her, and Red Alert's security cameras couldn't locate her either. Unsure what to make of things, the Autobot leader decided to contact Jazz, so he opened his communication frequencies.

"Yeah?" sounded Jazz's voice from the other side of the link.

Optimus winced to hear the saboteur so sleepy. Jazz was obviously still resting, just like Ratchet had ordered him to.

"I'm sorry to wake you, Jazz, but it couldn't wait," he said apologetically. "Do you know where Faera is?"

"Last time I saw her, she found a ledge inside the crater and meant to sleep there," Jazz answered. "She's gone then?"

Optimus picked up the slight tone of concern in Jazz's voice, and he noted it as a good sign. It meant that at least one more Autobot was slowly befriending the Sadjen.

Even so, this wasn't the time to ponder on that. If Faera had been in the crater, there was only one out of two ways she could have gone. And since she wasn't inside the Ark, Optimus was sure she had climbed up the crater to go outside.

"Prime?"

"Don't worry, I know where to look for her now," Optimus answered. "Thank you, Jazz."

"Any time, Prime. Jazz out."

Optimus nodded absentmindedly, and ended the transmission to head for the exit. He stepped out of the Ark and looked everywhere for any sign of Faera, but he couldn't see her anywhere. What made things even stranger was the fact that, according to his scanners, Faera was… up. As a suspicion formed in his processor, he looked upwards, in the direction of the crater.

The Sadjen was indeed there. Optimus clearly saw her sitting on a rock on the top of the slope. She had her eyes closed, letting the sunbeams bathe her with their warm light. Optimus supposed he should have expected it, for Perceptor had already informed him that her exoskeleton didn't only serve as armour to protect her vulnerable core; it also absorbed solar energy to sustain her. So, when the sun rose, it was only natural that she wished to feed. Feeling quite curious, the Autobot leader couldn't help but watch her for a few moments, and he registered the calm expression on her features. It was a pity that he had to call her down, but Optimus knew that there was nothing for it.

"Faera!"

She barely flinched. She just opened her eyes and looked at him.

"You have to come down," Optimus explained. "We need to talk."

She nodded and got back on her feet. She slid down the slope with experienced ease, her steps sure and steady, and she walked up to Optimus.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Two things, actually," Optimus said. "It would be best if you informed someone about your whereabouts next time. One of my officers doesn't like it when members of the Ark just disappear." He pointed meaningfully at the security cameras.

Faera nodded her understanding. "I'll choose a more visible spot next time," she said.

"Good." And yet, Optimus was aware that the problem remained. The Autobots needed some kind of means to stay in touch with Faera even if she wasn't within hearing or visual range. Optimus hoped that Wheeljack would think of something when the Autobot leader talked to him about it.

Faera regarded him curiously, arching one of her eyebrows. "What was the other thing?"

Optimus remembered himself. "I spoke with the mayor of Portland yesterday," he said. "I had to make sure that the humans knew about you before any of them jumped to unwelcome conclusions."

She snorted. "Conclusions such as that I'm going to open my big bad jaws and eat every last one of them?" she asked wryly.

"Indeed," Optimus answered, accepting her humour with grace. "He also suggested a meeting about a mile outside of Portland in an hour. He said he wanted to speak with you personally."

"Why?" she asked, genuinely perplexed.

Optimus's optics dimmed slightly. "I think the mayor wants to discard some of his own fears first."

Faera sighed. "I hoped your word would be enough for him. I suppose it can't be helped." She checked herself. "That means I can't change to my battle raiment either, can I?"

Optimus shook his head. "I'm sorry."

She waved her hand dismissively, another small smile crossing her features. "It's fine. It's just that I move faster on four legs rather than two."

Optimus chuckled. "I agree; though, personally, I prefer to roll." With that, he transformed to his vehicle mode and opened the door of his trailer. "Hop on."

Faera quirked an eyebrow and looked at the Autobot leader in disbelief for a few moments. Finally, after deciding to trust Optimus's judgement, she crouched and carefully stepped inside the trailer. Her eyes immediately caught sight of the various controls and relays, so she made sure that she didn't touch any of them as she settled down on the floor. She crossed her legs and rested her elbows on her knees, resembling those large statues Optimus had seen in India once.

"Are you comfortable?" he asked via the controls on his dashboard.

"More comfortable than I expected," she answered truthfully.

Just then, Optimus felt a curious sense of apprehension washing through him. He stiffened for a moment, and heard familiar clicking sounds from inside his trailer – fearful sounds.

"I believe you've met Roller before," he said, aware that it was the small mechanism that was regarding Faera with such a feeling of dread.

"Yes, and not under the best of circumstances," Faera said with a sigh. "Is he yours, then?"

"Affirmative," Optimus said. "He goes where I can't, serving as my optics and audios."

Faera frowned. "So, basically, you're able to sense what he does?"

"Yes," Optimus said.

"Even pain?"

Optimus understood where the Sadjen was going with this. "Affirmative. I felt it when you attacked him."

A sad expression formed on her features. "My apologies... to both of you."

"You were only trying to protect yourself, Faera. Forget it," Optimus said kindly. Roller, on the other hand, let out another series of clicks, and even Faera could tell that they sounded wary.

"Your friend doesn't agree," she noted in a wry tone.

"Just give him time," Optimus said reassuringly, before starting his engines with a roar. "We should go."

She nodded her agreement, and rested her head against the wall as Optimus drove off westward. She didn't seem to mind Roller's inquisitive looks; she just closed her eyes and lost herself in thought. She only stirred when Optimus came to a halt, and she cautiously stepped outside the trailer so that the Autobot leader could transform back to his robot mode. Beckoning her to follow him, it didn't take long for the two aliens to find the mayor already waiting for them a little further away. The mayor himself, James Powel, was standing close to his own car with quite the number of escorts to his left and right.

The old, white-haired man had a good, honest face, and he smiled in a friendly manner when he saw Optimus and Faera approach. His two bodyguards and his entourage of assistants, on the other hand, couldn't help but look at the Sadjen, regarding her curiously.

"She looks like she's stepped out of a bad b-movie," one of the younger assistants murmured close to his colleague, chuckling.

Optimus's expression clouded, for he had heard that – and so had Faera. She locked her gaze on the human, pride burning so strongly within her eyes that Optimus expected the assistant to burst into flames at any moment. The young man certainly felt that way, for he swallowed hard, shifted his legs nervously and finally averted his eyes. Faera snorted subtly, considering the matter taken care of, and she faced the mayor again.

"So," Powel addressed Optimus, a bit unnerved after the Sadjen's display, "I believe this is the friend you spoke of?"

She raised an eyebrow in mild surprise at the term the mayor used, but she said nothing. Still, Optimus could tell that she was touched; her gaze softened momentarily and he detected the beginnings of a small smile tugged on her lips. To Optimus, it meant Faera now knew that she did well in trusting him. It was something she needed, even though she would probably never admit it openly.

"Indeed, Mayor," Optimus answered and motioned his hand in her direction. "Her name is Faera."

"Mayor," she said, nodding her head in polite greeting. "Optimus Prime told me you wished to speak with me."

"Yes, I did," Powel said. He straightened his glasses and cleared his throat. "I… was hoping you could tell me some things about yourself and your home."

Faera nodded her understanding and sat down on a nearby rock, crossing her legs in a relaxed manner.

"I'm at your disposal."

The mayor followed her example and took a seat on a smaller rock nearby, while Optimus sat beside Faera and listened with interest to her talk with the human.

* * *

Jazz stretched his limbs with a purring rev of his engines, resembling at that moment a very large cat. To say that he felt, as humans put it, on top of the world, would have been an understatement. Now that his self-repair systems fixed some minor tweaks and scratches too, Jazz's former strength returned, and he couldn't wait till he had a rematch with Megatron.

That, however, would have to wait. He checked the time reading on the computer screen to see that he had some time to spare before taking up his duties for today, which meant he could take a stroll around the Ark to catch up with any piece of interesting news. So, he got off his berth and walked out of his dorms, his step brisk and light. He found it a bit strange when he saw Cliffjumper walk down a corridor, then run in the complete opposite direction upon seeing Hoist; still, he decided that he shouldn't interfere in their matters.

"Hey, Jazz, got a sec?"

Jazz turned around, recognising Beachcomber's voice. To his surprise, however, the minibot was beckoning him from the shadows, trying to make himself as inconspicuous as possible.

"Uh… Sure, Beachcomber. What is it?"

"Did you see any Autobots walking down this corridor?"

Jazz blinked. "Well, I saw Cliffjumper and Hoist just a minute ago, but no one else."

"Okay. Thanks!" With that, Beachcomber rushed down the corridor and headed to Perceptor's laboratory.

_What in Primus' name is goin' on?_ Jazz thought, more than just a little perplexed. If he didn't know any better, he'd say Beachcomber was trying to avoid someone.

Hoping that some energon would clear his head, Jazz walked towards the common room. It didn't take him long to get there, and a quick scan inside showed Jazz that the place was far from empty. Mirage was sitting on the couch with an energon cube in his hands, drinking the rejuvenating liquid in small sips.

"Hey, Mirage."

The Ligier turned around, startled, but he quickly calmed down when he saw it was only the saboteur. "Hey, Jazz. Good to see you up and about again."

"Yeah, I figured I should jus' stretch my legs before I start workin' on my report," Jazz answered with a broad smile, and he casually leant against the wall. "How about you?"

"I have patrol with Hound at one o'clock," Mirage said. "But, for the moment, I'm hiding."

Jazz cocked his head in a curious manner. "From who?"

"Anyone who wants to talk to me about Faera," Mirage answered. "For the last twelve hours I had about a dozen Autobots over my head asking me things such as what race she is, what she can do, if I've seen her transform and if I think she's okay or not." He sighed and rubbed his temples in a tired manner. "And I'm not the only one who had to go through that, I assure you. Almost everyone who's been in Santorini has been bombarded with the same questions."

Jazz frowned as Cliffjumper and Beachcomber's behaviour finally made sense.

"Now that's jus' the wrong way to go about things," he noted with a shake of his head. "If they want to know about her, why don't they ask her and judge for themselves?"

"They can't. She's not here," Prowl said. Indeed, the tactician had walked into the room with a couple of datapads in his hand to pick up an energon cube from the dispenser, when he overheard the conversation. "The humans had to be informed about our non-Cybertronian ally, so Optimus had her meet the mayor of Portland."

"Oh." _No wonder Prime was lookin' for her so early in the mornin',_ Jazz mused inwardly.

It was also then that the saboteur remembered something just as important.

"Hey, hold on a minute… Bluestreak and Tracks are still in Philadelphia, aren't they? And the Aerialbots are in South America. They aren't goin' to shoot her or anythin' when they see her, right?"

"No, Red Alert has already dispatched a radio transmission to all Autobots and told them the news," Prowl answered dryly. "Besides, judging by what Skyfire has already told me, laser-fire has no effect on her kind."

"None whatsoever," Mirage replied. "It just ricochets off her."

Prowl took a sip of his energon thoughtfully. "I see."

The tactician exited the room without another word, but Jazz noticed a strange glint in his optics. Aware that that meant Prowl was carefully considering something, Jazz waved Mirage goodbye and rushed after his friend.

"Prowl!"

Though he kept walking down the corridor, Prowl faced Jazz nonetheless. "Yes?"

"Come on, man, I know you! You're contemplatin'," Jazz exclaimed. "So what's in your mind?"

Prowl stopped and regarded the saboteur with quite the calm expression. "Very well. I'll tell you," he said. "By accepting to join our ranks, Faera has automatically placed herself in the position of a recruit. As an officer, you _are_ aware what that means, aren't you?"

Truth be told, Jazz didn't understand at first. But then, as realisation caught up with him, he felt his optics widening.

"You're gonna test her?"

Prowl nodded.

"Prowl… She's not an Autobot," Jazz said with a shake of his head.

"Yet," the tactician corrected. "If she's to be accepted as one though, she has to face what every one of us already has. You know that."

Jazz opened his mouth to object… but he couldn't. Prowl was right. They couldn't treat Faera differently just because she wasn't a Cybertronian and, come to think of it, that was probably something Faera herself wouldn't want either. Still…

"Some of the tests can't apply to her," he pointed out.

"Ironhide, Trailbreaker and Smokescreen are already waiting in my office so we can work around that problem," Prowl answered, holding up the two datapads in his hand. "Speaking of which, we'll need your help concerning some details. You're more familiar with her nature than we are."

Jazz chuckled in a wry manner. "I'm not sure how knowin' her three days more than you guys qualifies as 'more familiar', but count me in."

"Then let's go," Prowl said, beckoning Jazz to follow him. As they walked on, Jazz was mildly surprised to see a small smile forming on the tactician's lips; the mask of the cold, calculating second-in-command slipped for a moment.

"You know… Something tells me the next few days are going to be _very_ interesting."

Jazz couldn't help it. He smiled as well. "You and me both, buddy."

_You and me both._

-------------------

As Optimus listened on to Faera's conversation with Mayor Powel, he had to admit that the Sadjen was courteous in all her answers while telling about her life on Sherba, her former home; she didn't even shy from the truth when she spoke of her planet's destruction. She nevertheless chose her words carefully and didn't reveal anything of what she had so far only told Prime.

Optimus didn't say anything though. She had already taken the risk of confiding in the Autobot leader, and that was enough; he meant to respect her wish in that matter.

Besides, the mayor himself must have realised that Faera preferred not to talk about the demise of her kind, for he didn't pry any further than necessary. He asked her of the circumstances under which she found herself on Earth instead, and what she thought of the planet so far.

"It's hospitable," she answered diplomatically. "The colours that surround the place are pleasing to the eye."

"But what of its inhabitants?" Powel asked curiously.

Faera shook her head. "I'm afraid I didn't allow myself to interact much with humans until now. I didn't think a creature of my appearance would be welcome."

"You didn't trust humans?" the mayor insisted.

"I didn't trust myself among them," she replied. "I didn't want to cause any harm."

_I've already caused enough. _Optimus was sure that that was precisely what she was thinking. But that wasn't the time or the place to confront her about her self-blaming - the same self-blaming that made her choose exile as her proper punishment.

"And now that you've joined the Autobots?" Powel asked.

Faera didn't hesitate in her answer.

"You can have as much faith in me as you do in the Autobots. You can trust me to respect the laws of Earth and abide by them without objection. But you can't trust me to sit by when I'm required to do the right thing, whatever that entails."

Powel thought about her words for a few moments.

"Sounds fair to me." He smiled and extended his hand. "Welcome to Portland, uh… Miss… Ms?"

She understood and completed the handshake, holding the man's hand between her thumb and index finger. "Just Faera is fine by me."

"Ah, good," the mayor said with relief, then turned to the Autobot leader. "Thank you for arranging this meeting, Optimus Prime. It was most interesting."

"You're welcome," Optimus said. "Have a good day, Mayor." He calmly watched the humans get in their cars and, as soon as they drove away, he stood up.

"I believe that is also our cue to return to Headquarters. Will you go inside my trailer again?"

"Yes," she answered, standing up as well. "I'd rather not slow you down."

"As you wish." He paused for a moment and looked at her with the smile visible in his optics. "You did well back there. I could tell the mayor was impressed."

She didn't expect that compliment, that was for certain. "I just answered his questions," she said.

"And your answers were good," Optimus replied. "You've just made your first step in settling down to a new home."

"The first out of many," she pointed out with a shake of her head. "I don't even know when I'll take the second one."

Optimus chuckled knowingly. "That depends on Prowl."

She regarded Optimus in a perplexed manner. "How so?"

The Autobot leader didn't get the chance to answer. At that moment, he caught sight of something glinting on a rock formation quite some distance away from him and Faera.

"Faera, move out of the way!"

She complied at once, jumping aside just as Optimus took out of subspace his rifle and fired in the direction of the rock formation. A metallic squawk of dismay pierced the air, and Laserbeak flew over their heads. Charging up his optics at full power, he opened fire at both Autobot and Sadjen and then fled westward as fast as he could.

"I'll take it that that was a Decepticon," Faera said, watching the robotic vulture disappearing in the horizon.

"Indeed. And one of the sneakiest ones, too," Optimus said with distaste. He turned toward her, his optics reflecting his concern. "Are you hit?"

"No," she answered, still looking in the direction Laserbeak fled. Her brows furrowed to a troubled frown. "How long do you think he had been there, watching us? I didn't hear him closing in."

"I didn't detect him either. He knew to keep his distance," Optimus said, putting back his rifle in subspace. "He saw what he wanted, after all."

"Which was?" Faera asked, facing Optimus.

Optimus locked his gaze on the Sadjen. "You."

Faera's eyes widened slightly at that and, for a moment, Optimus thought she would change to her animal form and bolt after Laserbeak. Her hands certainly curled to resemble claws, and her shoulders slumped forward as though she was about to crouch. He gently gripped her arm in a motion to stop her.

"Let it go, Faera. At least we know that theyknow."

"But there's something else we don't know."

She didn't have to say anything more; Optimus understood just by looking into her eyes.

"If he _is_ with them, we'll find out sooner or later. For the moment, there's nothing you can do," he said, and transformed to his alternate mode. "We'd better head back to the Ark."

Faera could only nod her acquiescence and she stepped inside the trailer. As soon as Optimus felt her settle on the floor once more, he started his engines and drove towards the base, both of them silent.

* * *

Soundwave sat by the base of a mountain, giving the impression that he was alone in the vast rocky area that was unfolded around him. In truth, however, he was standing guard outside the Decepticons' temporary headquarters, and the mountain was no mountain at all.

A metallic squawk reached Soundwave's audios, and the spy looked up. Sure enough, Laserbeak was swiftly flying toward the spy, eager to return to his master. Soundwave opened his chest-plate, and the robotic vulture transformed to his cassette mode to land with a light thudding sound inside Soundwave. The spy closed his deck and cocked his head, listening carefully to everything Laserbeak had to report.

His visor lit up when he heard something that would certainly interest Megatron, and he instantly opened his communication frequencies.

"Soundwave to Megatron. Laserbeak has located the female Sadjen."

---------------

Megatron sat on his chair in the centre of the control room, a smirk forming on his lip-components as he listened to Soundwave's report. Starscream, on the other hand, didn't seem all that impressed. Indeed, the air commander was leaning against the wall at the other side of the room, keeping his arms crossed and his expression aloof.

"Are you sure she's allied herself with the Autobots, Soundwave?" Megatron asked.

"Answer: Affirmative. Both Optimus Prime and herself confirmed it to the mayor of Portland," Soundwave answered.

"Excellent," the Decepticon leader noted. "Have Ravage and Reflector spy on the Autobots. As soon as they locate her, they're not to lose sight of her. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Megatron," Soundwave said, and ended his transmission.

"You seem to be very pleased, considering an indestructible alien has now declared herself an Autobot soldier," Starscream pointed out, regarding Megatron with a raised optic ridge.

"Because I see much further than you will ever do, Starscream," Megatron said contemptuously. "She's not even close to becoming an Autobot before she's tested first; the Autobots will want to document her every skill and weakness. And when they do, we'll be there to get the results too."

"And why should her abilities matter to us?" Starscream asked in a snort. "Isn't it enough that she's a life-form powerful enough to destroy us? Or do you think we don't have our own test subject to experiment on if that's your _real _priority?"

Megatron curled his upper lip in distaste. "Do you mean _him?_" he asked, pointing at the darkest corner of the control room.

At first glance, it appeared like there was nothing there, but Starscream noticed a large rocky boulder hanging from several cables. And, when he looked hard enough, he managed to discern the shape of a male humanoid form, his head bowed and his dark strands hiding his face. Metal rods made of electrum alloy pierced the joints of his wrists and ankles, holding him in place and preventing him from moving even if he wanted to. Starscream realised with quite the satisfaction that Sadjens weren't entirely invulnerable as Ebon had wanted the Decepticons to believe at first.

"Hook has already informed me that this measure won't last forever; the heat of his core is such that it's slowly melting the rods. It won't be long before he'll be able to change to his animal form again," Megatron said. "This is where youcome into the picture, Starscream."

"Me?" Starscream asked, surprised.

"Yes," Megatron said. "As much as I hate to admit it, you're the best qualified for the job I have in mind; you know these creatures better than anyone else."

Starscream frowned. "And what job is that?"

"Make sure that our new pet never bites his masters' hands," Megatron replied. "Do you think you can do that, Starscream?"

It seemed Primus was smiling on the air commander. Starscream had wanted to get back on the Sadjen for his sneak attack back in Santorini, and it seemed now he had his chance. He locked his gaze on Ebon, a smirk forming on his lips.

He was going to enjoy this.

"It will be my pleasure, leader."

* * *

Optimus walked down the main corridor of the Ark, lost in thought. Faera wasn't with him anymore. She had asked his permission to retire to her resting place the moment she stepped out of his trailer. Optimus knew that rest was the last thing in her mind when she requested that sort of thing, and he'd rather she interacted with some of the other Autobots so she could familiarise herself with them. After what happened earlier today, however, he knew she needed some time alone to contemplate.

Besides, there were other matters to be taken care of. That was why he now pressed the call button to Wheeljack's laboratory.

He was quite taken aback when, instead of Wheeljack's usual cheery: "Step right in!", he heard a very, _very _angry:

"She's a Sadjen; a shapeshifter; yes, I've seen her transform; yes, it was impressive; and if you want to know more, just go talk to _her!_"

Optimus raised an optic ridge. Just what had happened while he and Faera were away?

"Wheeljack, it's only me."

There was silence for a couple of moments, during which Optimus was sure that Wheeljack winced visibly, and then the engineer opened the door in a timid manner.

"Hey… uh… sorry about that, Optimus. Some of my previous visits were kinda… trying," he said, scratching his head embarrassedly.

"I could tell," Optimus noted, mildly amused. "However, the reason I wanted to see you _has _to do with Faera. Do you have a few minutes?"

"Sure," Wheeljack said. "Step right in."

-------------------

Wheeljack leant against his desk with his arms crossed. Optimus could see that the engineer was deep in thought, considering the Autobot leader's request carefully.

"Well, Wheeljack? Do you think you can do it?"

"It will be tricky," Wheeljack answered. "Our standard radio transmitters can't work on her. Even if I manage to attach one _some_how, it will get destroyed when she will change to her battle raiment."

Optimus frowned. He hadn't thought about her transforming ability. That certainly complicated matters even more.

"I didn't say it's impossible," Wheeljack added, seeing through Optimus's concern. "I'll just need Perceptor's help on this, as well as her own cooperation."

"Very well, I'll tell them to meet you here tomorrow," Optimus said. "As soon as you come up with something, let me know."

"Sure thing, Optimus," Wheeljack said, his smile audible in his voice.

That was all the reassurance Optimus needed. As Wheeljack returned to his work, the Autobot leader turned on his heel and went to his office to attend to his other duties. He had put them off for far too long.


	3. The Two Faces Of Servitude

_A/n: **Warning**: Though the chapter is light-hearted for the most part, the final scene touches the M rating due to torture and violence. If you're squeamish, do not read once the name Ebon pops up._

* * *

As she had promised Optimus Prime, Faera stayed visible to the cameras at all times, making it easy for Red Alert to track her down. So, the next day, when Perceptor wanted to know where Faera was, Red Alert informed him that she was taking a stroll outside the Ark. The scientist thanked the security chief, and it wasn't long before he found the Sadjen by some pine trees, breathing in their scent. Perceptor walked up to her and greeted her with a friendly smile.

"Hey, Perceptor," she said politely, "Is it time?"

"Indeed," Perceptor answered with a nod. "Wheeljack is expecting us."

She nodded her understanding and obediently followed the scientist to Wheeljack's laboratory. The engineer welcomed them quite cheerily, then beckoned Faera to sit on a chair nearby. She complied, crossing her legs and resting an elbow on the back of the chair. She seemed relaxed and nonchalant, yet she kept her eyes locked on both Autobots, waiting.

"Uh…" Perceptor started, "Did Prime tell you what this is about?"

"He mentioned that I'm not as easy to locate as the rest of the Cybertronians," she answered. "And that you try to figure out a way to work around that problem."

"Yes, quite right," Perceptor said, more to himself than anybody else. "But, before we attempt anything, I feel obligated to ask you what your people's customary means of communication are."

Faera raised an eyebrow. "You want to know how Sadjens talk to each other?"

"Partly," Wheeljack said. "We need to know how you contact someone when they're too far away, or you're in your battle raiment."

"How come?" she asked curiously, "Will it help?"

"That's what we intend to find out," Perceptor answered. "We don't wish to place you in any discomfort by having you act against your nature."

She regarded the Autobots with a strange expression in her eyes, and her lips curled slightly upwards in a small smile.

"I see," she said. "I don't think a Sadjen's talk is practical by Cybertronian standards though."

"What do you mean?" Wheeljack asked.

"When we're in this form, we aren't all that different from your race or the human one," she explained. "When we're in our battle raiment, however, our form of speech changes to a set of roars, growls, grunts and purrs that are connected to our body language. The differences to some of these patterns are so subtle that only a Sadjen can pick them up; a great asset in battle."

"The enemy isn't aware of the information you pass along to your fellow Sadjens," Perceptor said, catching on.

"Yes," she said.

"Hmm." Perceptor's optics reflected his thoughtful expression. "Are those sounds produced in your core?"

"Yes," she answered. "Our core vibrates, and then we manipulate the pulses to utter words."

"Intriguing. Where's your core located?"

Faera clenched her jaw at that, and her face darkened in a visible frown. Perceptor didn't know what triggered that kind of reaction at first, but he quickly realised that a Sadjen's core was as valuable as a spark was to a Cybertronian. You did _not_ expose it that easily to just anyone, allowing yourself to be vulnerable in such a way.

"I apologise. It was quite indiscreet of me to--"

He was taken aback when she pointed at a ridged line that went down her chest, reaching her abdomen and ending at the gravely joints that formed her waist.

"Under here," she said softly. She smiled a bit when she noticed the incredulous looks on both the Autobots' faces. "Ratchet is a medic. That means he knows about your inner functions better than anyone else – he has to if it means helping you. Let's just say I appoint you my personal doctors."

Perceptor and Wheeljack nodded, seeing her point and approving her decision.

"Now…" she continued on, relieved that the matter was settled, "What else do you want to know?"

The Autobots exchanged a look.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Wheeljack asked.

"I believe so," Perceptor said. "Although," he shifted his weight uncomfortably at that, "I'm not sure how appropriate it would be to ask that."

"Ask what?" Faera asked, more than just a little perplexed.

"To feel your chest," Wheeljack replied casually, but froze in realisation at the next moment. "Okay… that sounded a lot better in my mind."

Faera blinked once, twice… then laughed out loud, her deep, slightly echoing laughter filling the room almost like music. Perceptor and Wheeljack looked at her, unsure what to make of that reaction, yet relieved that she wasn't angry with them at least.

"I'm _not_ thatkind of girl," she finally said in a tease, still trying to stifle her laughing fits. "But I think I know what you have in mind so I'll allow it this once."

Neither Autobot could help it. They chuckled, accepting her sense of humour graciously, and the engineer walked up to her. He placed his hand firmly on the ebony exoskeleton, feeling the warm, smooth surface rising up and down under his palm – a sign of breathing.

"Say something," he said.

She frowned. "Like what?"

"Thanks," Wheeljack said happily, and he turned to Perceptor. "I think we're onto something. Her exoskeleton vibrates whenever she talks."

"Ah, perfect," Perceptor noted. "Faera, may I have a closer look at your chest-ridge?"

Faera nodded her acquiescence, so Perceptor transformed to his microscope mode and rolled close to her. He focused his lens on the slightly ragged line, and measured its thickness before rolling back once more.

"Good. Could you transform now, please?"

She did just that, her hands touching the floor as her exoskeleton thickened with a loud crackling sound. In a matter of moments, she was in her animal form, a soft grunt flowing out of her throat. Perceptor rolled close once more and examined Faera's chest, measuring again the now almost invisible to the bare optic line.

"Uh-huh!" Perceptor exclaimed. "_Very _interesting."

"What is it?" Wheelack asked.

The way Faera tilted her head was enough indication that she was asking the same thing.

Perceptor transformed and faced Wheeljack. "The ridge on her chest is just as thick in both her forms. And I've also noticed that it's made up of interloping layers that expand and contract every time she breathes."

That set in motion the gears in Wheeljack's processor.

"I think I have an idea…" the engineer said. He turned to the Sadjen, who was sitting on her hind legs and regarding him curiously. "You can transform back, Faera."

She complied, pushing herself back on her feet. There was the hissing sound of something burning swiftly, a surge of green light, and Faera was back to her humanoid form, ashes falling at her feet. She winced and scratched her head in an embarrassed manner.

"Sorry about that."

Wheeljack laughed and waved his hand dismissively. "Heh, this is nothing. I make bigger messes when I'm working. I'll clean it up in no time afterwards."

"All right," she said, although she still looked slightly guilty. "You said you had an idea?"

"Yup," Wheeljack answered. "From what I gather, your exoskeleton burns when you transform so that it stays clean from any impurities."

She nodded.

"But, if we attach on you a transmitter that's similar to your exoskeleton under that ridge, it might stay safe," Wheeljack concluded.

"A silicon-based lamina comes to mind," Perceptor added thoughtfully. "It's compatible, and with the right microchips…"

"It could translate the vibrations of your core to words that you can transmit to an Autobot frequency," Wheeljack completed.

"But will you be able to transmit back to me?" Faera asked, a small frown on her features.

"Don't fret, Wheeljack will think of something," Perceptor said. "For now, I'll have to analyse your exoskeleton, so we'd better go to my laboratory."

"See you later, folks," Wheeljack said, waving Perceptor and Faera goodbye as he also exited the laboratory. "I'll go find Optimus and tell him of our news."

-----------------

"And you think it's going to work?" Optimus asked, regarding Wheeljack curiously. The Autobot leader was in the control room with Jazz, and both of them listened with interest to the engineer's report.

"It sounds like the best solution for now," Wheeljack answered, his speakers flashing rapidly in his excited state. "The principle is simplicity itself if you think about it. The microchip will translate the vibrations on her exoskeleton to conventional language, and then vice versa if and when Faera isn't in the company of any Autobots."

"But that thing isn't gonna hurt her, is it?" Jazz asked, frowning under his visor.

"It shouldn't," Wheeljack replied. "That chest-ridge is pretty thick."

"And how long is that microchip going to take for you to build, Wheeljack?"

"Perceptor will have to analyse her exoskeleton, so the microchip will be made of materials that won't get rejected by her body," Wheeljack said. "Then there's carving, assembling, adjusting, connecting…" His voice trailed off as he still made his calculations; then finally reached to an answer. "Three days."

"Hmm…" Optimus rubbed his chin in thought. "Three days it is, then. I'll have to ask Faera to stay within the area of the Ark until you're done."

Jazz, however, shook his head. "Prime, we both know she isn't gonna say anythin', but won't it be unfair to her to stay cooped up in the Ark when the rest of us can come and go as they please?"

"I don't like it any more than you do, Jazz. But we can't place her on patrol with any of the Autobots if they feel uncomfortable with her animal form and unfamiliar with her language," Optimus pointed out.

"Well, she can still accompany you, Optimus," Wheeljack suggested. "She can stay inside your trailer as you drive."

"I've thought about it," Optimus said, "However, it won't be any different than keeping her within the Ark. In some ways, it'll be even worse."

All three Autobots bowed their heads, still trying to come up with a solution. And then, Jazz's visor flashed brilliantly.

"Hold on! There _is _an Autobot who can accompany her!"

Wheeljack and Optimus blinked, since they couldn't guess about whom Jazz was talking.

----------------

Bumblebee headed to Perceptor's laboratory and pressed the call button. As soon as he heard the scientist's brief "Come in!", he stepped inside and saw that Faera was indeed there, just as Red Alert had said. The minibot smiled broadly and waved the Sadjen in greeting, an action that was mirrored just as open-heartedly.

"Good morning, Bumblebee," Perceptor said, currently in his alternate mode and examining one of Faera's forearms; the ragged feel of it was of particular interest to him. Even so, one could detect a certain teasing lilt in his tone as he added: "Should I guess the purpose of your visit or is it that obvious?"

Bumblebee scratched his head embarrassedly. "Well, you know, Perceptor… I was on surveillance duty all day yesterday and I'm leaving on patrol soon, so…"

Peceptor chuckled. "Yes, I understand perfectly. You may carry on," he declared, and he resumed examining Faera, humming softly to himself.

Bumblebee grinned and faced Faera. "Well, how are you today? Do you like the Ark so far?"

"It's certainly different from what I had expected," Faera replied. "I didn't think there could be so many of you here."

"Actually, you've just seen about 1/3 of the entire Ark crew," Perceptor pointed out, focusing on her wrist joint. "It will be some time before you get the chance to meet all of us."

She frowned slightly. "Where are the rest?"

"On duty," Bumblebee said. "There's no telling where the Decepticons will attack next, so we have to be ready at all times."

"I see," she said thoughtfully.

Bumblebee cocked his head and regarded Faera curiously. "What's in your mind?"

"It just occurred to me that I know very little about your war with the Decepticons," she said. "If I'm to fight the Decepticons alongside you, I should know my adversaries better."

"That is a knowledge that is easily attainable. Everyone here will be more than willing to fill you in on that matter," Perceptor said, examining the Sadjen's long, flesh-like fingers. "Make a fist, please."

Faera complied. "Even on their fighting techniques?" she asked.

Bumblebee chuckled. "Trust me, after fighting them for so long, we know them like the back of our hand. Ironhide and the Twins can personally attest to that."

"Who?"

Faera didn't get an answer, because it was then that the door hissed open again.

"Hey, Bumblebee. You good to go?"

Bumblebee turned around, just in time to see Sideswipe stepping inside Perceptor's laboratory. Sideswipe's step was lively and brisk, very much like his brother's, who was following the red Lamborghini closely behind.

"Yeah, sure thing guys. Do you have the patrol route?"

"Right here," Sunstreaker answered and tapped his temple, where his memory circuits were. "That will save us from my dear brother's shortcuts."

Sideswipe glared at Sunstreaker in feigned indignation. "You realise that I only got us lost twice in the last three years we've been here, right?" he huffed.

"That's still twice more than _I _got us lost," Sunstreaker said, hardly fazed. "Now come on, let's go. With any luck, we might get back before MacGyver starts."

"No way, Bro! I wanted to watch Alf!"

The twins' argument was short lived, however. At that moment, Optimus walked in the laboratory as well. All the Autobots stood in attention at once, and Perceptor even transformed back to his robot mode. Faera stood up as well, showing her respect to the Autobot leader.

Optimus nodded in greeting to everybody present. "Bumblebee, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, are you setting off on your patrol?" he asked.

"Yes, Prime," the twins answered in unison.

"Has there been a change of plans?" Bumblebee asked.

"Only a slight one," the Autobot leader replied. "Faera will also join you, so that she gets to know the area."

Everyone could tell Bumblebee lit up at the news. The twins, on the other hand, kept their expressions neutral as they nodded their acknowledgement.

"Good. You can carry on then." With that, Optimus walked out once more. When the Autobot leader was out of sight, Sideswipe turned to Faera, a cheeky smile already on his lip components.

"Heh, looks like you're stuck with us for today," he said teasingly. "I'm Sideswipe, by the way, and this is my brother, Sunstreaker."

"Oh?" Faera said, locking her eyes on both Lamborghinis.

"Yeah, hard to believe that I'm actually related to him, isn't it?" Sideswipe said, nudging Sunstreaker with his elbow.

"Yes, as you can see, I got the good looks," Sunstreaker replied, a smirk creeping on his features. "Well, come along then. I hope you can keep up with at least one of us three." He patted Bumblebee on the head, then transformed and drove outside. Sideswipe followed his brother's example, leaving the minibot, the Sadjen and Perceptor behind.

"Are they always like that?" Faera asked Bumblebee and Perceptor, arching a brow in mild curiosity.

"Indeed," the scientist said quite dryly.

"Pretty much," Bumblebee answered with a laugh, then transformed as well. "So… how about we show them what we've got?"

Faera didn't reply at once; she first looked at Perceptor. The scientist smiled as he understood what was in her mind.

"We can continue with our work later. I've already gathered enough data for now," he said. "Good luck out there."

"Thank you," she said, a small grin forming on her lips. At the next moment, she was back in her animal form and running beside Bumblebee to catch up on the twins, her pace steady and smooth.

* * *

The patrol was uneventful, something that Bumblebee welcomed gladly. If anything, it gave him the chance to enjoy the Portland landscape while driving, for the yellow minibot always liked the autumn colours that specked the trees at this time of year. And, from the look of things, Faera seemed to like them too. The minibot could definitely tell by the way she was running beside him, a calm expression reflected in her feral eyes.

Bumblebee guessed it probably had something to do with how different Earth was compared to her planet. For Faera had talked to the minibot about Sherba while they were onboard Skyfire, and she described it as a land of fire, ash and blackened dunes. Certainly not the best place for _anyone_ to live in.

_Yes, it was a harsh place,_ she had said back then, answering Bumblebee's look of distaste. _A place fit for the strongest and hardest of us. _

Bumblebee sighed. He supposed Sherba wasstillhome to Faera, no matter how ugly or barren it was. But, Bumblebee felt that the Earthen nature suited her calm, composed demeanour better; even her ebony form seemed to blend in nicely with the rich red and yellow that surrounded them.

"See, Bro? I told you they weren't _that_ far behind," Sideswipe's voice sounded at that moment, cutting off Bumblebee's train of thought.

"Lucky guess," Sunstreaker commented in a matter-of-fact tone. Both Lamborghinis were sitting on a rock by the edge of a cliff, their arms and legs crossed as they relaxed against each other's back. The yellow warrior regarded Bumblebee and Faera with a raised optic ridge. "So what kept you two?"

"Oh, you know… We didn't want you guys feel bad or anything if we beat you," Bumblebee answered teasingly and changed into his robot form. "But why did we stop here?"

"It was Sunstreaker's idea," Sideswipe answered. "He figured that if Faera is to learn the area, the best way to do that is to see everything from a spot with a view."

Bumblebee frowned. "We are supposed to be back to the Ark in an hour."

"We will," Sunstreaker said. "This won't take long."

Bumblebee finally decided that there was no point in arguing with Sunstreaker about this. He faced Faera, who was currently sitting on her hind legs and looking at the three Autobots curiously.

"I guess it's up to you, Faera. Do you want to have a look?"

She bowed her head, her tail gently twitching to and fro in thought. Finally, she stood up and changed into her humanoid form. The twins watched the transformation with a curious look reflected in their optics, then Sideswipe nodded as if he reached to an important decision.

"Nice, swift, flashy… I'll give it an eight," he commented.

"Seven," Sunstreaker said, pointing at the ashes on the ground. "It's messy."

To say that Faera looked utterly confused would have been an understatement. Bumblebee chuckled and decided to explain things to the Sadjen.

"They've just graded your transformation; they always do that whenever someone new gets added to the Autobot army," he said, and grinned broadly. "Congratulations. They aren't usually so generous with their marks."

"Are you still bitter over that five I gave you?" Sunstreaker asked, smirking. "Besides, we gave her an extra point for original transformation style."

"That's nice to know, I suppose," Faera said, still feeling slightly confused. She shook her head in the next moment, clearly deciding to forget about the whole matter, and she stepped closer to the edge of the cliff. Bumblebee stood beside her and regarded the landscape as well.

He smiled in approval. The twins had picked a really good spot.

"Is this whole area part of Portland?" Faera asked curiously.

"Pretty much," Sideswipe answered. "There's the city over there."

Faera turned her gaze to the direction the red Lamborghini was now pointing, taking in the sight of the skyscrapers on the horizon. "And where's the Ark located?"

"On the left, at the base of that big mountain," Sunstreaker said. "Can't miss it."

"Oh." Faera squinted her eyes, trying to discern the metallic outline of the spaceship. "We're quite far from it. I can barely see it."

Bumblebee was surprised, since he could see the Ark quite clearly. All he had to do was adjust his focus and…

He stopped midway, because it was then that he realised what the problem was.

"How far can you see?"

She shrugged. "Not overly far. And I'm quite short-sighted when I'm in my battle raiment."

Sunstreaker cocked his head. "You don't seem to have much problem with it though."

"I don't have any," she replied and tapped her nose. "I mostly use this and my ears anyway."

Sideswipe regarded Faera curiously. "So what do you smell now?"

"Besides you three?" Faera asked.

Sideswipe nodded.

Faera didn't answer at once. She took a deep breath, and then smiled knowingly. "The scent of dead leaves decaying, the aroma of the grass; the rich odour from the ground, the moss that's under the rocks nearby, the smell of quite a variety of animals and birds…" She paused for a moment and sniffed again. "… and that it's going to rain."

All three Autobots frowned and looked up at the sky.

"There isn't even a single cloud up there!" Bumblebee said.

"I didn't say it would rain _now,_" Faera pointed out. "I'd say in an hour or so."

"Right," Sunstreaker declared and he stood up. Poor Sideswipe had barely enough time to brace himself as he suddenly lost the comfortable support his twin provided. "We should return to the Ark. I've waxed myself just today, and I don't want any mud on me, thank you very much," he added, and he quickly transformed to his alternate mode.

Sideswipe huffed a bit at Sunstreaker's haste; nevertheless he transformed too, and both Lamborghinis drove westward. Bumblebee and Faera watched them go for a while and, once the minibot knew they were out of the twins' hearing range, he faced the Sadjen.

"Okay, can you really tell the time it will rain just by sniffing the air or did you make this up?"

Faera winked in Bumblebee's direction. "If in doubt, trust the old Sadjen's nose."

Bumblebee laughed. "Let me guess. A Sadjen proverb?"

"Close enough," Faera answered, and she changed back to her animal form. Her tail swayed in a playful manner as Bumblebee changed to his own alternate mode, and, as soon as he set off, she started running beside him once more.

* * *

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Ebon knew he was being moved. Even so, he didn't open his eyes. It had taken him a lot of his will power to shut the pain off his sensors, and he didn't want to lose his focus. If he did, the pain would return ten-fold, and his involuntary screams would only satisfy his… allies.

Disgust filled his core as his mind drifted to the Decepticons. They had the audacity to treat him like a tool, a slave, when he could easily sink his teeth into their necks and take pleasure at the sound of breaking circuitry under his jaws. They jeered at him, when they should cower at the sight of his claws.

They treated him like nothing. As if his racemeant nothing.

_Aeknar curse you all._

Somebody probed his head with non-too gentle fingers and forced his eyes open. Ebon couldn't tell who it was though; his senses were still numbed.

"How intriguing," a voice declared, its sound low and distorted to Ebon's ears. "You must be in quite the pain to induce yourself to a coma."

Ebon said nothing, and if those relentless fingers weren't holding his eyelids, he would have shut his eyes again.

"I wonder what it will take to get your undivided attention," the voice continued. "Maybe if I did this?"

The sensation of his right wrist slitting further open pierced through him, snapping him out of his concentration. Touch, smell, sight, everything came back with the force of a tidal wave that swallowed him whole. He bit back a scream that threatened to rush out of his lips, and he looked back at his tormentor.

Starscream.

"That wasn't so difficult, I see," the Decepticon second-in-command said with a smirk.

"What do you want?" Ebon said in a snarl, breathing hard in his attempt to somehow ease the pain.

"Me? Nothing," Starscream said almost sweetly_. _"I'm only a bearer of news."

"Well, I don't want to hear your news!" Ebon all but shouted. "Leave and be thankful that I'm not free from my bonds yet!"

"No, you aren't," Starscream agreed, regarding Ebon as if he actuallypitied him. "But _she _is."

Ebon froze.

"That's right. We know where she is," Starscream said, "And she's free as a bird, enjoying the company of the Autobots, who treat her as their friend." He chuckled. "Not quite the results you were after when you started that hunt of yours."

The male Sadjen couldn't have felt more revolted. She fought against him, against the chance for a new, better order; she detonated the devices that wiped out their home-planet; and instead of suffering in punishment like the traitor she was, she was laughing happily with pathetic inferiors as though they were all equals.

A growl emanated from his throat, and his pain was forgotten to be replaced by sheer outrage.

"Yes… it makes you want to tear everything in sight, doesn't it?" Starscream said, still smirking. "I would like to release you so you two could settle your score, but I have different orders." He started tracing Ebon's chest in thought, as though trying to find something. "I examined you while you were in that self-induced sleep of yours. Do you want to know what I discovered?"

Ebon said nothing. He just glared at the air commander.

"Your exoskeleton isn't evenly thick, at least in your present form." His hand stopped moving, fingers feeling the centre of the black surface. "And this area, in particular, feels much warmer than the rest of your body."

Ebon bared his teeth. He knew where Starscream was going with this, but he didn't want to make things easier for him by saying anything.

"It's interesting," Starscream continued on, while getting out of subspace a knife with an electrum blade. "Your chest is smooth, while I noticed hers has a dark line stretching from her neck to her waist. Probably a distinction between males and females… though you both keep the same secret underneath."

Ebon let out a sound very much like an angered animal, and he tore his right arm free from the metal rods to grab Starscream by the throat. The pain made his limbs tremble, but he didn't let go, intending to end the seeker's life once and for all.

Though Starscream flinched at first, his gaze hardened again. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Ebon paused, trying to understand what Starscream was telling him. He looked down, and he realised that the air commander kept the electrum blade poised over his core.

"I don't think you want to die before you have your revenge on your ladyfriend," Starscream pointed out tauntingly.

"It will take more than that puny knife to kill me," Ebon snarled.

"In your animal form, yes. But I don't think you can transform that fast in your current state," Starscream retorted.

Ebon gnashed his teeth, his breathing quick and coming out in gasps. His fingers twitched, longing to fry the seeker's circuits so badly that the Sadjen could almost taste it. It would mean his own death if he killed the seeker, yes; but it would be a dignified death, at the very least.

And she would remain alive, unpunished and mingling with outsiders, disgracing the Sadjen race. Disgracing _him_.

His hand dropped at his side, releasing Starscream. The air-commander quickly stepped back, rubbing his neck and keeping his eyes locked on Ebon.

"A wise choice."

At the next moment, he plunged the knife straight through Ebon's throat. Ebon opened his mouth in a scream, but no noise came out – it couldn't. So, he simply succumbed to the pain and lost consciousness, Starscream's last words echoing in his ears.

"Stay here for now."

_TBC..._


	4. The First Test

"Anything of interest going on?"

Red Alert sat up on his chair and turned around at the sound of the familiar voice. Smokescreen was indeed standing at the threshold, regarding the security chief with curious optics.

"Nothing so far," Red Alert replied with a shake of his head. "Then again, it's still early," he added under his breath as he locked his gaze back on the monitors.

Smokescreen chuckled knowingly. "Still pessimistic as always? You should loosen up a bit; you'll live longer."

"We'll _all _live longer if I keep an open optic here," Red Alert pointed out dryly, and he pressed a button on the controls. The images in the monitors changed at once, revealing other parts of the Ark to the two onlookers. "So… today is the big day?"

Smokescreen nodded; he understood perfectly well what Red Alert was talking about. "I'm here, aren't I?" he said, stepping further inside to have a look at the monitors too. "The question now is: where is _she?_"

Red Alert pressed another button and the monitor on the far left revealed Faera near the entrance of the Ark. She was sitting on a rock, the sunbeams practically showering her black form.

"I don't know much about her kind, but they seem to be creatures of habit," Red Alert said. "After that first day, this is always the spot she picks in order to feed."

Smokescreen raised an optic ridge at that. "You make it sound as though it's a bad thing."

"It isn't," Red Alert admitted. "But I don't know what kind of psychological profile you'll manage to make if she repeats her every action day after day like she's performing a ritual."

"Oh, you'd be surprised," Smokescreen answered, a grin forming on his lips. "It proves that she's an orderly and methodical creature, one that prefers rigorous structure in her activities because it gives her a sense of security."

"Security?" Red Alert echoed. "What kind of security?"

"Against uncertainty."

Red Alert frowned momentarily, taking in Smokescreen's words. "Are you telling me she's nervous?"

Smokescreen hummed his affirmation. "Very nervous for that matter."

The Lamborghini looked at the relaxed Sadjen in the monitor. "She certainly doesn't look like it."

"Typical. Like any good gambler, she's hiding her weak hand," Smokescreen said. "Soldiers aren't supposed to show their flaws, Red. You know that."

"That only shows that she doesn't trust us," Red Alert replied thoughtfully.

"Do _you_ trust _her?_"

Red Alert didn't answer. Smokescreen smiled, since he had made his point.

"We're all wary in the face of the unknown; it's a natural defence mechanism. It takes time and a few small steps of good faith to overcome that kind of fear," the blue Datsun said. "Did you know she was in the company of the Twins and Bumblebee yesterday?"

Red Alert nodded. "I've heard them talking to Inferno and Warpath about it. I'm not surprised that Bumblebee likes her, being the first one to have met her and all, but… I never thought Sideswipe and Sunstreaker would be that accepting."

Smokescreen chuckled. "Well, Sunstreaker did say that she'd better keep her claws trimmed when she's near him."

"You know what I mean," Red Alert said with a huff. His conversation with Smokescreen was cut short, however, for he noticed movement close to Faera. "There's Prowl."

"And not alone," Smokescreen added at the sight of Mirage, Hound and Trailbreaker following the tactician. "Let the games begin."

-----------------

"A test?" Faera asked, raising an eyebrow as she looked curiously at the four Autobots.

"Affirmative," Prowl answered. He kept his tone business-like, just as it was appropriate under the circumstances. "One of the Autobots' requirements is their ability to scout, and we're going to examine yours."

The Sadjen nodded her understanding. "I see. And what am I supposed to track down?"

"Us," Trailbreaker said cheerily, and he pointed at himself, Mirage and Hound. "And I have to warn you, we don't plan on going easy on you."

She smirked. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

"First things first," Prowl declared, wishing to get back to schedule. "Before we begin, is there anything you want to request?"

"Just one thing," Faera answered. "I will have to smell Hound, Mirage and Trailbreaker separately."

"Fair enough," the tactician said. "Go ahead."

Faera didn't have to be told twice. She immediately changed to her alternate form and stepped close to Trailbreaker. She approached him cautiously, waiting for his permission first, which Trailbreaker gave with a nod. He was intrigued when she buried her muzzle in his palm, sniffing it gently; nevertheless he said nothing. Hound smiled and let her smell his own palms without any sign of discomfort, since he was familiar with that kind of behaviour from his outings at the nearby forest - studying the animals there had its advantages. Mirage, on the other hand, seemed a bit wary, but he allowed her to come closer nonetheless. She regarded him in a reassuring manner, then took a couple of sniffs before finally sitting on her hind legs.

Prowl understood. It was time for the test to begin.

"Close you eyes and hum softly to yourself while everyone goes to his position. I'll let you know when you can start your search."

She grunted her acknowledgment and, bowing her head slightly, she closed her eyes. When a continuous rumbling sound started emanating from her throat, all Autobots except for Prowl drove off, while the tactician made a few notes in his datapad. A minute passed, then two, and then he took out of subspace a chronometer.

"Faera."

She didn't react, something that took Prowl by surprise. Soon, however, he realised what the problem was, so he gently tapped her shoulder.

The rumble ceased and she looked up at him, her tail swinging as she hardly contained her eagerness. Prowl allowed himself a small smile and gave his order.

"Go and get them."

Faera's eyes flashed and she stood up. Now that the test was officially on, Prowl started the chronometer and took a few steps back to watch the Sadjen make a few circles, sniffing the ground. Whatever scent she picked up was certainly strong because, at the next moment, Faera let out a low growl and ran off at top speed. Prowl transformed and followed her in his alternate mode, though he made sure he kept his distance so as not to disrupt the test.

They didn't have to go too far. Soon enough, Faera made a bee-line to an innocent-looking enough rock formation without so much as hesitating. Hound's hologram vanished and the scout revealed himself, chuckling heartily when the panther-esque creature stood on her hind legs and rested her front ones on his chestplate. Faera's eyes reflected her amusement as she regarded Hound with a perfectly readable "Gotcha!" expression on her animal features.

"Yeah, you got me," Hound replied, patting her neck. "Guess there's no fooling your nose, is there?"

"The test is far from over," Prowl pointed out, still in his car mode. Still, he couldn't help but admit to himself that it _was _an impressive start. "You still have to find Mirage and Trailbreaker, Faera."

Faera nodded. She faced Hound again and, after swaying her tail once in a gesture of goodbye, she was off again. This time, Prowl followed Faera in the company of Hound, who was curious to see how fast Faera would locate the next Autobot.

- Hmm… if my indications are correct, it looks like she's after Mirage this time, - Prowl commented in the secret frequency.

- Heh. If she finds him in less than five minutes, he'll never live it down, - Hound replied, his cheerfulness quite audible in his tone. – His pride has already been hurt once. -

Prowl sighed. He recalled that incident only too well, back when Hound and Mirage had to pass their own tests in order to become Autobots.

- You found him that easily because he underestimated you and he didn't know of your _own _little ability with the holograms, - Prowl said. – For his sake, let's hope he won't repeat his mistake. -

- Come on, Prowl, why are you saying that? – Hound asked, not really understanding.

- It will only mean that he's learned nothing in all these years as an Autobot. –

It was then that they saw Faera coming to a sudden stop. Seeming surprised, she circled the ground a few times to sniff it thoroughly and got ready to head to the right; but then her eyes widened in what seemed like realisation and so she turned around, running to the left.

- That was unexpected, - Prowl noted.

- Looks like Mirage did learn from his mistake. He headed to the right, then put on the reverse and sped to the left, - Hound replied, explaining matters to Prowl.

- Intriguing, - Prowl admitted. - However, the tire-prints alone must have given him away. Not to mention that the tracks to the right would be more deeply etched.–

- That's what Faera must have figured out, too, - Hound said. He paused for a moment as he considered something carefully. – You know… something tells me that she's done this sort of thing before. She moves with the air of someone who knows what she's doing. –

- Well enough to consider it a sort of game, – Prowl agreed. - It could have been a favourite challenge among her people. –

- Maybe even in childhood, - Hound said. – Cubs often practise their future skills in the form of a game. –

- I don't think she would describe her childhood as being a cub, - Prowl said, a tinge of tease audible in his voice. - However, your reasoning makes sense. Now it remains to be seen how good she was at that game. –

Prowl got his answer at the next moment, for Faera stopped close to a shallow river and started sniffing the ground again. She blinked her puzzlement and she sniffed the ground to make sure she had made no mistake, only to blink again.

- She lost his scent, - Hound said.

Prowl slowed down, regarding the Sadjen curiously as she made circles, trying to pick up Mirage's scent again. - Strange. And my sensors don't detect him anywhere. –

- He must be in his invisibility cloak, - Hound said.

- Without a doubt, - Prowl agreed. – The question is… why hasn't she found him yet? –

Just then, the two Autobots saw Faera crouching so close to the ground that she was practically crawling, her ears laying flat on her head. Her eyes narrowed dangerously, and her tail swayed so wildly that it was almost as if it had a life of its own. Prowl wasn't sure what to make of that kind of behaviour, but Hound was certainly intrigued by it. He put on the brakes at once and signalled the tactician to do the same.

- You know what she's up to? – Prowl asked curiously.

- Yup. And, I gotta tell you, Mirage just got busted, – Hound answered, his grin very audible in his voice. Indeed, when Faera pounced into the water, very much like a wild cat after its prey, there was a great splash and a yelp of surprise. Moments later, Mirage appeared, revealing that the Sadjen had sprawled on his lap so that he wouldn't try to escape.

"And Round Two is officially over," Hound commented.

Mirage hardly paid attention to his friend's tease. He simply sighed, and shook his head to rid himself of some water before turning to the Sadjen.

"You got me," he admitted half-heartedly. "But you'd better get _off _me now."

Faera complied and slowly got up. Droplets of clear liquid trickled down her ebony form as she walked out off the water, the sunlight giving the impression that her exoskeleton was studded with small precious jewels. But that illusion was soon gone as she shuddered violently, shaking off the excess water off her back. She watched as Mirage got back on his feet, and she cast him an apologetic look.

Mirage, however, smiled politely in her direction. "You found me fair and square. It was a good match."

Prowl supposed he should have expected it. Though Mirage didn't like losing, he also knew the rules of good sportsmanship; it went with belonging to a formerly well-known aristocratic circle in Iacon. So, it was only gentlemanly to praise his fellow adversary for his victory.

It was a gesture that was certainly appreciated. Faera answered with a polite bow of her head, reciprocating Mirage's courtesy as it was appropriate, and then she looked at Prowl expectantly.

The tactician smiled knowingly, understanding what she asked him.

"Yes, you may continue."

She set off again, while all three Autobots followed closely behind once more.

- So… how long did it take Faera to find Mirage? – Hound asked curiously.

- Five minutes and fifteen seconds – Prowl answered.

- Good. At least I wasn't _that_ easy to find this time, - Mirage noted, directing his sensors in Hound's direction.

Though Hound said nothing, his engine revving loudly was enough indication that he was stifling his laughter.

- Incidentally, why did you dive into the water, Mirage? – Prowl asked. It was a tactic that the Datsun hadn't witnessed before, and he was quite intrigued by it.

Mirage chuckled. - I saw it in a movie. The convict dived in the river so that the police dogs would lose his scent, - he said. – Of course, it worked better for the convict than me, but it was worth the shot. –

- Well, the convict didn't have alien animals with deductive abilities after him, - Hound pointed out with an audible grin. – And, besides, she hasn't found Trailbreaker yet. -

- She just has, – Prowl said.

Sure enough, all three Autobots could see Faera currently running towards a picnic resort, where humans were enjoying a nice sunny day with their families.

- Oh no… - Mirage said.

- We'd better do something, - Hound said. – If the humans see her in her animal form… -

Prowl, however, still drove on calmly. - It's fine. –

Hound and Mirage's engines choked in stunned surprise.

- Are you serious?! – Mirage exclaimed. – Faera probably won't harm anyone, but the humans will panic at the sight of her for sure! -

- I'm aware of that, - the tactician replied. – Nevertheless, we'll wait. –

- Wait for what? – Hound asked, confused.

Prowl didn't get the chance to answer. Faera came to an abrupt halt, for it was then that she realised just _where _Trailbreaker hid. Her tail swayed in thought as she regarded the humans from a distance, her body stiff and unmoving.

No. If she wanted to reach Trailbreaker and so end the test, she would have to take a different approach. Prowl was sure that that was exactly what the Sadjen was thinking.

_Good. Let's see if you'll figure out the rest of the puzzle._

Faera did. After taking cover to a rock formation nearby, she changed to her human form and then approached the resort, a friendly smile on her face.

"Good morning," she said, and she knelt down with her palms facing upwards in a gesture of peace.

All humans stared at her in disbelief, their eyes wide open. Faera didn't seem worried in the least though. She just scratched her head in an embarrassed manner.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I suppose this is the first time you've seen me around here. My name is Faera and I've been living with the Autobots these last couple of days or so and…"

Those were the magic words, apparently, because all the children at the resort pricked up their ears and rushed at her amid exclamations of "Cool!" and "Awesome!" The parents watched on, mortified, but Faera didn't do anything except stay where she was, still smiling.

"You don't look like a Transformer! Where are you from?"

"Hey, can you change forms, too?"

"Do you know Tracks? I think he's the greatest!"

Despite getting bombarded by all those questions, Faera answered to all of them like a kind, patient teacher addressing her students. And, when she informed the children that three Autobots were with her as well, every boy and girl went ecstatic and rushed to Prowl, Hound and Mirage. Even some of the parents seemed more at ease to see the three Autobots transforming into their robot mode and walk up to Faera's side; it was enough proof that Faera was, in fact, friendly.

"Why are you here?" a little girl with pigtails asked the Sadjen, looking up at her through intelligent blue eyes.

"Ah, now we come to it," Faera answered, green eyes shining brilliantly. "Do you know Trailbreaker?"

All the children shouted yes.

"He's a Toyota Hilux, just like my dad's car!" a ten-year-old boy exclaimed.

"Is he?" Faera's lips tugged to a grin. "Well, he decided to play a little joke on me, so he hid amid your parents' cars to see if I can find him."

"He's here too?!" Another boy, no more than eight years old, asked.

"Yes, he is," Faera said with a chuckle. "How about we all go looking for him?"

She didn't have to ask again. Cries of joy filled the air, and the children ran to find any car that even remotely resembled Trailbreaker so that Faera could sniff out the hiding Autobot. Though some cars weren't Toyotas, or even _black,_ to begin with, she nevertheless played along, sniffing and then comically shaking her head to signify that that wasn't the right car.

Prowl couldn't help it. He smiled as he watched Faera and the children searching, reminding him of the games he used to play as a sparkling. And he actually grinned when Hound and Mirage locked their gazes on him, their optics wide as they realised something.

"You and Trailbreaker had planned this all along!" Hound exclaimed.

Prowl decided there was no point in denying anything. He nodded.

"But why?" Mirage asked. "I thought the idea was that she passed the test."

"Not at the expense of others," Prowl pointed out. "We had to be sure that she respected human life."

Of course, what Prowl didn't say was that he had expected Faera to stop the search altogether rather than pull that kind of stunt. And, as Trailbreaker's cry of surprise and laughter reached his audios, the tactician had to admit it now.

Faera had just passed the first test with flying colours.

* * *

Starscream walked into the main control room, certain that he would find Megatron there, plotting as always. Sure enough, he immediately caught sight of the Decepticon leader sitting on his chair and looking with interest at the monitors. And, by the way Megatron had his upper lip curled in distaste, the air commander knew what was on those monitors.

"I see Reflector and Ravage have been busy," he commented. "What have our dear Autobot friends been up to today?"

"Obviously playing hide and seek with little flesh creatures," Megatron replied, and he turned off the monitor in disgust. As soon as that matter was settled, he turned around and faced the air-commander. "What have you got to report, Starscream?"

Starscream smirked. "There has been quite some progress. The Sadjen might not like us, but he hates _her _more. As long as he remembers that, he will be a valuable asset to the Decepticon cause."

Megatron's optics narrowed at those words and he stepped dangerously close to the air commander. "If you think that that's enough reason for him not to attack us when our backs are turned, you're an even bigger idiot than I thought, Starscream. I want that insolent beast to live in fear every single moment of his existence. I want him to do my bidding, or risk facing a wrath so terrible that he'll wish for death. I want him to cower at the mere _sight _of me. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Megatron," Starscream answered, trying to hide his _own _fear from his voice. Being afraid of the leader was one of the first rules he had to learn when he had joined the Decepticons. Because what a leader could give to his follower, from credits to glory, he could just as easily take away – along with said follower's life.

If there was one thing Starscream was good at, however, it was to survive. And this time wouldn't be an exception either.

"There's something that we can use to control him," he said.

"Oh?" Megatron crossed his arms, warning the air commander to be very careful of what he would say next.

"Yes," Starscream replied, nodding nervously. "But I'll need the Constructicons' plans for the energy magnet."

"And why would you need the plans for that old thing?" Megatron asked.

"A Sadjen's core is like a Cybertronian's spark," Starscream explained, "It's made of concentrated energy that gives him his life, his personality and all those traits and quirks that define him as an individual, intelligent being."

"You'd better have a reason for telling me all this," the Decepticon leader declared impatiently.

"I do," Starscream answered. "With proper use, the energy magnet could keep him drained, weakened and unable to short-circuit us."

"And as strong as we want him to be in order to fight the Autobots," Megatron mused. He rubbed his chin in thought for several moments, then finally reached his decision. "Very well, Starscream. The plans for the energy magnet are yours to do with them as you please. But I want you to inform me as soon as you've finished with your project. I want to test your plans'… efficiency."

"Of course, oh wise leader," Starscream said.

"Good. You may leave then."

Starscream nodded his compliance and exited the room, leaving Megatron alone to his plotting once more. He had to see to his leader's order, after all.

He hadn't lied to Megatron. The energy magnet would control Ebon quite successfully – but not entirely. The Sadjen's core was a lot more powerful than a Cybertronian's spark, and the amounts it produced could be terrible; the air commander had deduced that much after having Soundwave do a primary scanning on the comatose alien. That meant that the Decepticons would have to keep adjusting the magnet's settings in order to have Ebon under constant control… or make sure that Ebon's energy was always depleted. Starscream could think two ways to do that off the top of his head, and he was sure both of them would keep Megatron happy.

Starscream didn't mind though. He had his _own _secret weapon against the Sadjen, and it was more efficient than the energy magnet. And Starscream intended to keep the electrum blade with him at all times, threatening to use it when Ebon proved difficult in his handling. For Megatron was correct about one thing: Ebon could only be controlled through fear.

Starscream smiled cruelly. If everything went according to plan, then it wouldn't be long before Ebon finally killed Faera and destroyed the unprotected Autobots. Then the Decepticons would be victorious, and the energy of Earth would be theirs to take. Cybertron would be revitalised, and a new Golden Age would begin.

Pity Megatron wouldn't be there to see it. Powerful leader or no, he wouldn't stand a chance against the angered, vengeful Sadjen that Starscream would turn against him once the time was right. And, when the air commander established himself as the new, unquestionable leader of the Decepticons, Ebon would have served his purpose also. It would be so gratifying to run his blade through the black exoskeleton and see the creature's life extinguish before his very optics, victorious at last.

Yes… those plans sounded very promising indeed.

_TBC..._


	5. The Fight

Most people wouldn't expect two oil-rig workers and a young boy genius to be friends. Nevertheless, Spike and Sparkplug considered Chip Chase one of their closest friends, since they had two things in common: their friendship with the Autobots and their love for anything out of this planet. So, it was only natural that father and son wished to share with young Chip their latest adventure, as well as the secret that the Autobots discovered under the Aegean waters. And, when Chip expressed his wish to see Faera with his own eyes, they were more than willing to take him to the Ark so that he could meet the Sadjen. Bumblebee offered a ride to all three humans and, in less than a half hour, they were inside Autobots Headquarters and heading towards the common room; they figured that Faera would be there, in the company of the other Autobots.

She wasn't, but the common room was far from empty. Blaster and Cosmos were sitting at one of the tables, talking over a cube of energon alongside Skyfire and Huffer. That is, Skyfire and Huffer did most of the talking, while the other two Autobots listened on with great interest. So engrossed they were in their conversation that they didn't notice the newcomers at first. That is, until Bumblebee addressed them with a knowing smile.

"I guess you guys are catching up with the news?"

Blaster and Cosmos lifted their gazes and nodded, smiling in greeting. "It looks like a lot of stuff happened while we were away," the communications officer noted. "Skyfire and Huffer have been telling us all about it."

"So you haven't met Faera yet?" Chip asked curiously.

Cosmos shook his head. "We returned from space just a couple of hours ago," he said. "And Skyfire's just said that she's hardly left Wheeljack's lab since last night."

Sparkplug frowned slightly and looked up at the Valkyrie. "There's nothing wrong, I hope?"

"Not that I know of," Skyfire replied. "But building Faera's transmitter isn't easy, and neither Perceptor nor Wheeljack want to leave anything to chance."

"That thing will never work," Huffer said, sipping some of his energon. "And even if it works, I don't see what good it will do to us."

"What do you mean? We have to communicate with her somehow," Bumblebee said.

"But what if she doesn't want to?" the other minibot argued. "She lived alone before we found her. You can't just take away that kind of freedom from a wild animal."

"We're not taking anything away from her," Skyfire said. "Though she has lived alone, Sadjens are, in fact, highly gregarious life-forms. They live in large packs, and all the members move and think as a single unit; that's where their real strength lies."

"Or used to, at least," Spike noted, aware of Faera's story by now. "It can't have been easy for her to detonate those bombs. Or wander in deep space in silence for 400 years."

Cosmos shuddered. "And you guys wonder why I like Blaster's music. If I travelled for that long without _some_thing to keep me company, I would lose my mind."

Skyfire nodded, and drank some of his own energon. Chip, however, noticed a very thoughtful expression settled on Bumblebee's features.

"What's in your mind, Bumblebee?"

"My first meeting with Faera," the Volkswagen answered. "Back then, I thought she didn't attack me because she didn't feel threatened by me. But now…" He shook his head at once. "Never mind."

"You wonder if she reached out to you because she felt lonely," Sparkplug said, seeing through Bumblebee's train of thought.

Bumblebee nodded. "Silly, right?"

"Not at all," Skyfire said, a small smile of reassurance on his lip components. "And perhaps that's one more reason she decided to join the Autobots."

"Decided?" Huffer echoed. "She came here because Prime asked her to."

"_Asked_ being the keyword here," Blaster said. "She could have just as easily said: 'No way', and ride away into the sunset on her own, if you know what I mean."

"She'd never do that," Bumblebee said.

Cosmos looked at Bumblebee closely, cocking his head curiously. "You really think so?"

"Come on, guys! She looked after me when I fell into stasis-lock, and she protected me when Ebon showed up," the minibot replied. "She even fought alongside us when the Decepticons showed up."

"Yeah, she did, but that doesn't make her an Autobot," Huffer pointed out.

"It makes her one at heart," Bumblebee argued, "Just as it makes Spike, Sparkplug and Chip here."

All three humans couldn't help but smile at those words. Blaster, on the other hand, chuckled kind-heartedly.

"Touché," he said, "And I can't help but feel more curious about our female addition in the crew now."

"Me too," Chip said, straightening his glasses. "Do you think Perceptor and Wheeljack will let us in the lab?"

"Well, there's a way to find out," Skyfire said, a small smile on his lip components. "Just ask."

It was then that the characteristic sound of an incoming transmission cut through the air.

"Uh oh," Blaster said with a wince. "Cosmos, my man… Something tells me we just got busted."

Sure enough, when the communications' officer activated his transmitter, everyone heard Prowl's voice loud and clear from the other end of the connection.

"Prowl to Blaster and Cosmos. Please proceed to my office for your report," the tactician said.

"Gotcha, Prowl; see you in a minute," Blaster said, and ended the transmission. Cosmos, on the other hand, sighed in resignation.

"I guess that's our cue," he noted, and he stood up.

"As is ours," Skyfire said. "It's high time Huffer and I found Ironhide."

"Ironhide?" Spike asked before he could help it.

"Yup," Huffer replied, shaking his head. "What on Cybertron came over him and why he suddenly wants to clear the ground outside the Ark, I'll never know."

The humans didn't really understand what Huffer meant, nor did they get the chance to find out more. At the next moment, Skyfire prodded the minibot down the corridor, declaring that they shouldn't delay any further. So, all that they could do was watch all four Autobots walk away, then turn around the corner and out of sight.

"Now that was weird," Chip said. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say Skyfire is hiding something."

"He _is_," Sparkplug said, rubbing his chin in thought. "But what?"

"Beats me," Bumblebee said with a shrug. "Come on, let's see if we can get inside Wheeljack's lab."

The humans agreed to that whole-heartedly. A few moments later, Bumblebee pressed the call-button to the lab, and all four companions waited for the engineer to answer.

"Come on in!"

Bumblebee pressed the enter button, complying. As the door opened with a gentle hiss, everyone stepped inside and quickly caught sight of Wheeljack himself. He was sitting at a table in the centre of the room and stooping over several tiny pieces of circuitry, connecting them to form a small computer chip. He wasn't alone, however. Perceptor and Faera were working on a computer a little further away, just as focused as the engineer. In fact, it appeared for a moment that none of them had noticed the newcomers, but Wheeljack finally lifted his head, his smile reflected in his optics.

"Hey, guys. Hello, Chip! Long time, no see," he said, waving. "So what brings you all here?"

"Actually, we were hoping Chip would get to talk to Faera," Bumblebee said, "But if you're busy, we can drop in some other time."

"Nah, it's fine," Wheeljack said, and pointed with his thumb to the direction of Faera and Perceptor. "Those two need to take a break anyway. They've been at it for hours."

"Really?" Chip asked, surprised. From where he was, he could see the monitor of the computer flashing rapidly, an indication that the machine was fully operational. However, Perceptor wasn't touching the computer, while Faera seemed to be just standing there, her fingers resting on the keyboard. Even so, the young human could see that the Sadjen's gaze was slightly unfocused, and there was a soft, green glow visible in her eyes.

"She's downloading her animal language in the computer, as well as a translation of it in English," Wheeljack answered, seeing through Chip's perplexity. "Perceptor is processing the info so we can also have a translation of it in Cybertronian."

"So you can program all three languages inside the chip?" Bumblebee asked.

"That's the general idea." Wheeljack said with a chuckle.

"But how does she even do that?" Chip asked, still staring at the Sadjen. "She's not typing anything."

"She doesn't have to," Perceptor answered, overhearing Chip. "By changing the energy of her core into electrical surges, she has the ability to manipulate any piece of machine at will."

"Wow… that sounds a bit like what that Kremzeek thing used to do," Chip said thoughtfully.

"Quite right," Perceptor said. "However, she controls her energy better than that electrical monster, so she doesn't short-circuit anything."

"You do realise that I can hear you talking about me, right?" Faera declared. Her eyes never left the computer screen, but she was clearly more alert, and a small smile was visible on her lips.

Perceptor chuckled in a sheepish manner. "Of course. Awfully sorry about that," he said. "Then I suppose we can put an end to our task for a while so you can make acquaintances with Chip."

"Very well," she said. She lifted her hand from the keyboard after setting the computer into sleep mode, and she turned around, the glow gone from her eyes. She greeted Bumblebee and the humans cordially. "You must be Chip," she noted, regarding the bespectacled human closely.

"I sure am," Chip said, extending his hand in a handshake, an action that the Sadjen mirrored at once. "This is incredible. Meeting one race of aliens was big, but meeting another one feels too incredible to be true."

Faera raised an eyebrow in mild surprise, something that made the Autobots chuckle.

"Chip works as a professor's assistant at the Portland Observatory," Bumblebee explained, patting Chip on the head. "Let's just say that you've just made one of his wishes come true."

"I see," Faera said. Even so, she still regarded Chip in a perplexed manner. "You seem quite young though."

"Chip is one of his kind," Spike said, smiling broadly. "And I should warn you, you're about to be bombarded by a ton of questions."

"Spike, I'm not that bad!" Chip exclaimed, mortified. Even so, he looked at the present Autobots with uncertainty. "Am I?"

"I most certainly think not," Perceptor said, smiling. "There's nothing wrong with wishing to satisfy one's curiosity, after all."

"Yup. But, since I can hear my and Perceptor's converters rumbling, I'd better get some energon for us first," Wheeljack declared, and he headed to the exit. "You guys wait here; I'll be right back."

Just when the engineer was about to press the enter button and step outside, however, the door was activated as if on its own accord to reveal five very familiar, _large _forms. Wheeljack, and everyone else for that matter, couldn't help but stare at all the Dinobots incredulously, because they certainly never expected to see them walk through that door.

"Grimlock… guys… Now that is some surprise," Wheeljack said, once his initial shock ebbed away. "What can I do for you?"

Grimlock let out a heavy grunt and darted his visor every which way, obviously in search of something. "Me Grimlock and other Dinobots hear them Autobots have new warrior. Me Grimlock want see him."

"Us too," Swoop added, sounding quite excited. "Is him new warrior Dinobot, too?"

Perceptor, Bumblebee and the humans winced quite visibly at the Dinobots' wrong assumption. Faera, on the other hand, watched the scene silently, her gaze unwavering as she looked at the Dinobots in quite the curious manner.

"Uh…" Wheeljack said, embarrassed, "If you mean Faera, she's right over there."

Five set of optics immediately locked on the Sadjen, regarding her with a mixture of surprise and confusion. Then, as curiosity got the better of him, Sludge approached Faera and gave her the once over from up close.

"It look like her Carly," he noted in a musing tone, then proceeded to boldly poke her chest. "Not make clang like her, too."

Faera raised an eyebrow at that. "No, I'm not a robot, if that's what you're saying."

"But you Faera warrior?" Snarl asked, deciding to come closer as well.

"A soldier, actually," she replied with a small nod.

"Oh?" Slag said, clearly not believing a single word. "Then where your weapons?"

Faera frowned. "I don't need any in this form."

"This form?" Swoop echoed. His optics widened as the thought occurred to him. "You Faera transformer, too?"

"You can say that," the Sadjen answered.

Grimlock, however, had his doubts, just like Slag. "If you Faera not robot, then how you Faera transform?"

This time, Faera crossed her arms, and looked at Grimlock straight in the optic, even though he towered over her because of his sheer size. "I have my ways."

Grimlock snorted, then circled the Sadjen, all the while scrutinising her from head to toe. Though it was obvious that she was getting tired of that kind of treatment, Faera did nothing; she just indulged the Dinobot leader until he reached his final verdict.

Finally, after what seemed like centuries, Grimlock stood in front of Faera once more.

"You Faera maybe warrior," he said. "But you weakest warrior me Grimlock ever saw."

"Hey, come on, Grimlock, that's not--" Wheeljack started, but Faera raised her hand, stopping him.

"It's fine," she said, then drew her attention back to Grimlock. "Pray, finish what you have to say."

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the Sadjen and the Dinobot leader, another sort of conversation took place behind their backs.

"This isn't going very well, is it?" Chip asked in a low tone.

"And it's not going to end well either, by the look of things," Sparkplug seconded.

"For who is what I wonder," Spike commented, swallowing hard.

"That will depend on who loses their temper first," Perceptor replied, his tone just as low.

Grimlock, on the other hand, kept on with his taunt.

"You Faera want more?" he asked the Sadjen contemptuously. "You Faera not Dinobot. You Faera not even Autobot! You Faera soft just like them humans, except bigger!" His right hand clenched into a fist, which he brought close to Faera's eyes in an intimidating manner. "Me Grimlock can crush you with bare hands!"

Faera was hardly fazed, though. She simply tilted her head, her lips tugging to a smirk. "Bold words for someone who hasn't seen me fight, don't you think?"

"Me Grimlock leader! Me not need to think!" Grimlock replied, his voice resembling a roar.

Wheeljack decided that was enough, and he quickly activated his radio-transmitter at the secret frequency.

- Wheeljack to Ironhide. Come in, Ironhide. -

- Ironhide here, - the veteran's voice sounded from the other end of the link. –What's wrong, Wheeljack? –

- Find Prowl and the Twins! The Dinobots… -

- Oh, that! – Ironhide said, sounding very pleased all of a sudden. – Tell them and the girl to take it outside the Ark. Everything's already been taken care of. –

With that, Ironhide ended the transmission, leaving the engineer positively dumbfounded.

* * *

In less than half an hour, all five Dinobots and Faera were standing at the centre of an open area just outside of the Ark. They were far from alone, however. All the Autobots had somehow got wind of the battle that was going to take place, and now almost everyone was sitting at the volcano slope, watching everything with interest. And, of course, Bumblebee, Chip, Spike and Sparkplug were no exception.

"So Ironhide arranged this whole thing?" Spike asked, looking at Jazz curiously.

"He sure did," the saboteur answered, visor flashing brilliantly. "He went to the Dinobots, told them about that new feisty warrior we got, and he challenged them to meet her head on."

"Just so he could check out her fighting abilities? That's crazy!" Sparkplug declared. "This is the Dinobots we're talking about!"

"Exactly," Prowl said; he was sitting next to Jazz, regarding the makeshift arena in thought. "If she can put up a good fight against them, she'll be more than capable of handling the Decepticons."

"I kinda feel bad for her," Powerglide noted, overhearing Prowl. "The Dinobots won't be gentle with her."

"Oh, I'm quite sure she'll reciprocate the favour in kind," Perceptor cut in, taking his place next to the minibot. "Trust me, I've seen her fight."

"And I gotta tell you, Ratchet's gonna be one cranky medic when this whole thing's over," Wheeljack seconded, wincing.

"That actually makes the odds more interesting," Sideswipe commented, approaching the company with a datapad and a stylus. "Care to place your bets?"

Everyone stared at the red Lamborghini and the datapad sceptically. That is, except for Prowl, who positively glared at him.

"You know the rules I set concerning gambling, don't you?" he asked coolly.

"Yessir," Sideswipe replied cheekily. "No monetary exchange, no cubes of energon involved, and I'll let you know who got the extra chores and shifts from whom."

Prowl nodded, seeming satisfied with the answer. "Good. Smokescreen filled you in adequately."

Bumblebee, however, leaned confidentially towards Jazz. "That's weird. How come we have a different bookie this time?"

The saboteur's lips tugged to an enigmatic smile and he pointed to one of the security cameras to his left. "He's working."

Bumblebee wanted to know what Jazz meant but, unfortunately, he didn't get the chance. At that moment, Trailbreaker, Ironhide, Inferno and Skyfire appeared and took places at the borders of the arena, practically surrounding Faera and the Dinobots; then Optimus himself walked up to the would-be combatants.

"The goal of this confrontation is simple. Incapacitate your opponent in any way you can, but do _not _hit any of their vital parts. This is a sparring session and nothing more," the Autobot leader said, and he turned to Grimlock. "Do you understand?"

"Me Grimlock understand," the tyrannosaurus replied gruffly.

"Faera? Do you understand?" Optimus asked again, this time addressing the Sadjen.

"Yes," she said, eyes set steadfastly on all five Dinobots.

"Very well. You may begin at the count of ten," Optimus said, and he started walking away. "One…"

Faera and the Dinobots transformed at once. Growls and hisses filled the area, while Swoop took off in his pteranodon mode and started surveying everything from the air. The panther-esque creature that stood in place of the woman, on the other hand, simply stood perfectly still, ears lying flat on her head and eyes narrowing dangerously.

Chip straightened his glasses, unable but to stare at the transformation in awe. "Wow…" he breathed out.

"You said it," Spike said, nodding. "But I don't know what good will this guise do against Grimlock's jaws."

"She doesn't seem concerned with that, that's for sure," Bumblebee said. "She even looks eager to fight."

"An experienced soldier is never confused or at a loss; only prepared to receive his enemy," Prowl stated, his optics now locked intently on the arena.

"Ten!"

Slag was the first one to attack, opening his jaw widely to let out a terrible blaze of fire that he aimed at the Sadjen. Faera, however, leapt out of harm's way and sprinted to her right. Slag didn't expect that; nevertheless, he didn't intend to let Faera get away with it twice. He spat fire at her again, and then a third time, but she kept zigzagging, avoiding the flames with the grace of the feline she resembled. Snarl, seeing her running like that, charged in her way and lifted his tail to hit her the moment she came close enough.

She never did. She leapt in the air, just as Slag breathed out another trail of flames. Snarl growled furiously at the pain his face suffered, and he directed the spikes of his tail directly at Slag. The spikes launched in the blink of an eye, embedding themselves on Slag's side.

"Oh, man… Those bozos did it again," Powerglide said, shaking his head.

Prowl, on the other hand, was now smiling, a curious expression reflected in his optics. "Intriguing."

"What is?" Spike asked, looking up at the tactician.

"She's following one of the most basic rules in tactics," Prowl answered. "If your enemy's forces are united, separate them."

"And that means?" Chip asked, not really understanding.

"Faera's figured out that the Dinobots are their own worst enemies," Sparkplug explained.

Sure enough, Slag and Snarl had gotten too busy fighting amongst themselves, until Ironhide had no choice but to glue them on the spot with a spray of tar spewing out of his fingers. And so, Faera had to worry about the other three Dinobots now: Swoop, Sludge and Grimlock. Unfortunately, she was in quite an open area, and her black form contrasted violently with the dun colours of the ground, making her stand out only too clearly for Swoop to fire his missiles at her. The whistling sound of the missiles fast approaching alerted Faera to the danger she was in, and she quickly evaded the first one before slashing the second one just as it was about to hit her. The missile went off without really harming her, but the sonic boom sent her rolling a good couple of feet away. It was the perfect chance for Sludge to charge forward in order to trample her.

"Now this is gonna hurt," Sideswipe commented, seeing what Sludge was about to do.

"I can't look!" Bumblebee exclaimed, already averting his gaze as Sludge's bulk towered over the Sadjen.

Thick clouds of dust covered the scene at the impact, yet everyone heard the painful roar that cut through the air like a knife. The Autobots winced and waited for the dust to disperse, expecting to see Faera lying on the ground, broken.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The roar was actually Sludge's, and he was now trying to shake the Sadjen off him. For Faera had latched onto him very much like a leech, claws and teeth digging on the brontosaurus's neck and chest and never letting go for a second.

"That's it, girl! Hold on tight!" Jazz cried excitedly, rooting for the Sadjen with a big grin on his face.

Grimlock, on the other hand, was far from pleased. Deciding that enough was enough, he opened his jaws and breathed out a powerful laser blast onto Faera. Grimlock, however, didn't think that the laserfire would not only ricochet off the Sadjen without so much as placing a scratch on her, but that it would hit Swoop by accident as well. The pteranodon let out a great screech of pain as the laser damaged his left wing so badly that he could no longer stay up in the air. Thankfully, Trailbreaker used his forcefield to cushion Swoop's fall, while Skyfire dragged the wounded Dinobot away from the arena before he got any further injuries.

Meanwhile, Sludge still tried unsuccessfully to get Faera off of him, shaking his neck violently and even ramming himself against the rocky walls of the mountain. A strangled noise escaped from Faera's throat at every impact; nevertheless, she still held on.

"What in Primus's name is she doing?" Wheeljack mused, optics widened, "She should try to fight back!"

"There is such a thing as the right time," Prowl said.

"You're aware of her strategy then?" Perceptor asked the tactician curiously.

Prowl settled with a nod, still focused on the battle. There was no need for another answer anyway. In that moment, just as Sludge was about to hit Faera on the rocks again, she suddenly loosened her grip and landed on the ground, and so the brontosaurus hit himself instead. Blue optics flickered in confusion, then Sludge fell on his side, offline.

Stunned silence followed as all Autobots were at a loss for words.

"She actually did it," Chip murmured. "She didn't just manage to fight the Dinobots, she managed to defeat them, too."

"Don't get your hopes up," Bumblebee said. "She has to deal with another small problem."

"Small?" Spike echoed wryly.

Faera got back on her feet, breathing heavily, and directed her gaze to Grimlock. Her eyes narrowed, and she growled in a challenging manner. It didn't take a great mind to figure out what she was telling the Dinobot leader.

_It's just you and I now._

Grimlock let out a growl of his own, as if he declared that the game was really on this time. Eyeing each other warily, they circled the arena, determined to find an opening in the other's defence.

"And so it begins," Prowl noted quietly, and he discreetly activated his radio transmitter. – Red Alert, Smokescreen, have you recorded everything so far? –

- Yes, - Red Alert said. – I've even kept copies for further analysis afterwards. -

- Excellent, - Prowl replied, then ended his transmission so as to carry on watching the fight.

Grimlock made the first move, charging at full speed towards Faera with jaws wide open. However, Faera didn't remain idle. She leapt to the side and then, in a flash, jumped on Grimlock to manage a bite on his tail before retreating to a safe distance. Grimlock roared more out of surprise rather than pain, since the bite only left a couple of scratches on him. He turned around, ready to show her what _his _jaws were capable of, but she just leapt aside and bit his tail again. This time, Grimlock swerved abruptly in an attempt to kick her, but she evaded the attack with flawless ease before biting his tail a third time.

"She's toying with him," Perceptor noted.

"Irritating him," Prowl corrected. "If you anger your opponent enough, he's bound to make a mistake."

"And looks like Grimlock's fallin' for it," Jazz said, pointing at the Dinobot.

Indeed, Grimlock was practically gnashing his teeth, optics flashing dangerously as his rage built up to dangerous levels. A great laser blast burst out of his jaws, directed to the Sadjen, and he kept firing at her even as she constantly ran away from it. And yet, she didn't run away in panic or in fear. Everyone could see a calculating expression in her eyes as she ran around Grimlock, faster and faster, chunks of earth flying in the air and clouds of dust filling the arena until nothing could be seen anymore. Only then did Grimlock finally stop, looking confused in every direction. That is, until something clicked in his mind, and he quickly ducked.

Not a moment too soon. Faera barely missed him as she lunged at him from behind, ready to sink her teeth on his neck. She was hardly deterred though. As soon as she landed on the ground, she lunged at him again, this time aiming for his optics. But Grimlock simply transformed to his robot mode and he used the rifle he dug out of subspace to block her attack. Razor-sharp teeth closed around the rifle, almost bending it out of shape, and Faera tried to wrench the weapon free out from the Dinobot's grasp. Grimlock didn't give her that chance though. Using his legs as leverage, he pushed the Sadjen away from him, sending her practically flying a good couple of feet away. Although she landed on her feet, she had to roll away almost immediately because Grimlock had in the meantime stood up, wielding his energo-sword. The blade smashed on the place she was just seconds ago, but Grimlock didn't give up. He swung his sword toward the retreating Sadjen, and he actually found his target. Sparks flew as the blade made contact with the black exoskeleton, and yet the hit barely grazed her. Grunting, Grimlock lifted his sword to strike her again.

He never did. She leapt in the air and used her tail to swat the sword away from his hand, then planted her legs firmly on the ground, waiting for Grimlock's next move.

It came in the form of a fist that landed between her eyes. Claws scraped the ground as she remained standing in spite of the force of that punch; then she headbutted him squarely on the jaw. The Dinobot leader found himself staggering backwards, shaking his head to get rid off the dizzy feeling, but he lost his balance completely when she jumped at him and threw him down. Growling his determination not to lose, Grimlock instantly rolled over and pinned _her _down instead. Faera acted fast and lifted her hind legs to keep most of his body at a distance and, for a moment, it looked like she would be able even to push him off. Grimlock's weight, however, was too much for her to handle, and her knees trembled for a moment, almost giving in.

Neither opponent budged, both of them driven by sheer stubbornness. Yellow eyes and blue visor locked on each other, daring the other to move and make the final mistake. But a familiar voice cut into the spell, breaking it.

"Grimlock, Faera… Enough," Optimus said, approaching the combatants.

Grimlock lifted his head and glared at the Autobot leader. "Me Grimlock say not over! Me Grimlock not win yet!"

"You haven't won yet," Ironhide said, walking at Optimus' side, "But, if you keep at it much longer, it will take much longer for just the two of you to clean up."

With their confusion evident in their features, Faera and Grimlock looked around, finally noticing the numerous craters and piles of rumble that peppered the terrain.

"Oops…" Grimlock said sheepishly.

The soft, rumbling sound that Faera let out from her throat was enough indication that she agreed with the Dinobot leader whole-heartedly.

_TBC..._


	6. Amends

Since the fight was officially over, the Autobots started heading back inside the Ark. All of them talked excitedly amongst themselves, sharing their opinions about the match and who seemed the best combatant, as well as sorting out their wins and losses in the betting pool. Let it be said that Jazz was one very happy mech, since he was the only one who had bet the match would end up in a tie, and thus had no shifts or patrols for the next three weeks. Even so, since he was an officer and he was expected to do his duty, bet or no, he declined his winnings and even cancelled the bet altogether. If was a kindly action, and it was well-received as fair.

"No real loss, then," Wheeljack said with a shrug, walking beside Perceptor, Bumblebee and the three humans on their way back to his lab. "A good thing too. I don't think I'd be able to handle triple shifts for the next two days."

"Perhaps you might consider this as a hint to refrain yourself from gambling again," Perceptor noted dryly.

"Come on, Perceptor. It was just for fun," the engineer replied, raising his palms upwards in a gesture of peace.

"Odd sort of fun," Perceptor said under his breath.

Bumblebee chuckled, something that made the humans look at him in mild surprise. Seeing the question reflected in their eyes, the yellow minibot decided to oblige them with an answer.

"Perceptor is still upset over that whole Lord Gyconi incident a year ago," he said with a smile.

"Indeed I am, and I'm astounded that you can talk so comfortably about it," the scientist said, overhearing Bumblebee. "It was probably one of the most embarrassing, undignified, hurtful, _degrading_…"

Perceptor didn't have the chance to carry on with his list of adjectives, though. Hoist appeared from around the corner and walked up to the company.

"You weren't all that difficult to locate, I see," the large green mech noted. "Come along, Ratchet needs us at the repair bay."

Perceptor and Wheeljack exchanged a glance, then looked at Hoist again. "Isn't First Aid here?" Wheeljack asked.

"No, I'm afraid not. The Protectobots haven't returned from their patrol in New York City yet," Hoist answered, "That means we shouldn't keep our good medic waiting."

With that, Hoist walked ahead, already on his way to the repair-bay. Perceptor sighed in resignation.

"I suppose it can't be helped; even though it puts us behind schedule," he said.

"Yeah, it sure does," Wheeljack seconded with a sad nod.

"What kind of schedule?" Chip asked, regarding the engineer curiously.

"Oh, nothing all that serious," the engineer replied in a reassuring tone. "It's just that we had promised Optimus that we would finish with Faera's microchip by tomorrow, and we're not even half-way through. I'm sure he'll understand the reasons of the delay, but…" his voice trailed off, since he didn't have to say anything else. He simply didn't want to let the Autobot leader down.

Sparkplug, however, grinned broadly. "You're becoming forgetful, Wheeljack. Spike and I can help Ratchet too."

Spike nodded, a grin of his own forming on his lips. "It sounds like you guys could use a couple of extra hands more anyway."

"I'm sure we will," Wheeljack said, feeling cheerful once more. "Thanks."

"So it's settled. The Dinobots will be fixed in no time, and you and Perceptor can continue with your work undisturbed," Bumblebee noted in a happy tone.

"Speaking of work, I think I should go home and work on the project Professor Johnson has assigned me," Chip declared, "Can you drive me there, Bumblebee?"

"Sure thing," the yellow minibot said, already transforming to his Volkswagen mode and opening the door for his human friend. Once Chip was settled comfortably inside, Bumblebee turned around and started driving towards the exit of the Ark. "See you later, guys!" was all he said before finally turning into another corridor and out of sight.

Spike couldn't help but chuckle. "I guess that was one good day for Chip. Not only did he meet Faera, he even got to see what she's capable of."

"It was quite educational for all of us, actually," Perceptor noted as they all headed to Ratchet's repair-bay. "Sadjens must have been a very interesting race to study."

"I think we had enough studying for today," Wheeljack said wryly, "Ironhide made sure of that."

"YOU IDIOT!"

Both Autobots and the humans stopped on their tracks at once, recognising Ratchet's angry voice reverberating through the door right in front of them; the door of the repair-bay. Wincing, they approached the door cautiously, listening to the long rant that could be summarised to Ratchet's opinion about stupid weapons' specialists and their stupid ideas, and how he already had enough problems dealing with Decepticon-inflicted damages to worry about injuries induced by the Autobot soldiers themselves, thank you oh so very much.

"This is bad," Sparkplug said, actually hesitating to enter the repair-bay.

Still, Wheeljack pressed the enter button, revealing a very cranky-looking Ratchet working on Swoop's injured wing, while Ironhide was focused on removing tar from Snarl's legs.

"Me Swoop sorry," the pteranodon said in a meek manner, hanging his head in shame.

Ratchet, however, smiled reassuringly and patted Swoop on the forearm. "No, it's not your fault, Swoop," he said, only to glare in Ironhide's direction at the next moment. "It's _his._"

Ironhide huffed and looked back at Ratchet. "You're never gonna let me live this down, are you?"

"No," the medic replied. "Now keep scrubbing; you missed a spot on Snarl's front leg."

Though Ironhide complied and started scrubbing on the spot Ratchet showed him, he was far from done arguing with the medic. "She's a recruit, Ratchet. We needed to put her skills to the test."

"Then next time have her knit something!" Ratchet snapped.

It was Hoist who saved the situation. Still working on the offline Sludge, he cleared his vocaliser and showed Ratchet the newcomers. Ratchet faced Perceptor, Wheeljack and the humans, his frown never leaving his features.

"About time you two showed up," he declared. "Slag still has Snarl's spikes on him, and you will have to remove the tar from his legs."

"We'll do that," Sparkplug offered. "Spike and I have our history with stains like those."

That seemed to appease Ratchet a bit. "Thanks. I appreciate it," he said, a small smile finally tugging on his lips.

The humans didn't say anything else. As Perceptor and Wheeljack started working on Slag's injured side, _they_ started scrubbing the triceratops's legs. No one spoke for some time as they became too focused on their tasks, but a small whimper of pain broke the silence. Ratchet had lifted Swoop's hurt wing so he could check the damage underneath it as well.

"I know, Swoop," Ratchet murmured soothingly, deft hands still working without error. "It will get better soon."

"Okay," Swoop said in a soft tone, feeling reassured. However, his expression became thoughtful and he locked his optics on the medic. "Her Faera good warrior… but strange transformer."

Ratchet nodded almost absentmindedly. "We're all different," he pointed out.

"But why her Faera _so _different?" Swoop insisted, trying to make sense out of things. "Who make her like that?"

Ratchet looked up in surprise. "No one, she--" he stopped, realising that he was about to state something that wasn't exactly correct. "I mean, she _was _created, but not in the way you and the other Dinobots were."

"Then how?" Swoop asked.

Ratchet blinked. "Well, I… don't know. But she might tell you if you ask her."

The pteranodon sighed. "Me Swoop not think Faera will say."

That certainly made everyone look at the pteranodon quite perplexed.

"Why would you think something like that?" Hoist asked, unable to help himself.

"Him Grimlock talked bad to her," Swoop replied ruefully. "Her Faera maybe still angry with Dinobots."

"Is that all?" Wheeljack exclaimed with a chuckle. "She isn't angry with you; she never was."

"Really?" Swoop asked.

"Indeed. Didn't you notice her smile when Grimlock confronted her?" Perceptor seconded. "Faera is a creature that enjoys a good challenge, and you Dinobots provided her with one. If anything, she likes you."

"But him Grimlock said--"

"Aww… Don't worry about Grimlock, Swoop," Ironhide said then, smiling. "I bet those two are well on their way to reaching an understanding."

"They'd better be, or _I'll _make sure they are," Ratchet said, holding up his wrench meaningfully.

------------------

Grimlock grabbed another large rock and tossed it aside with a huff. The makeshift arena was quite large so that all the Dinobots and Faera would be able to fight without any restrictions, but that also proved to have its disadvantages. The sun was well on its way to setting, and yet his and Faera's work was far from over.

Speaking of which, where was she? Grimlock turned around to catch a glimpse of her, and he finally saw her at the other side of the arena. She kept her back turned to him, too busy with her own work as she tried to roll a boulder away but failing utterly; the thing wouldn't budge.

Grimlock snorted. Why the Autobots decided to have a creature like her do a Dinobot's job, he would never know.

"You Faera need help?" he asked. After all, she _was _slowing them down, and he'd rather get back to his room with the other Dinobots some time soon.

"No," she said quite cheerfully. "Thank you, though."

Grimlock certainly didn't expect that kind of answer. Had he hit her too hard on her head then?

"You Faera sure?" he insisted.

"Positive," she replied, and she placed her hands on the hard surface of the boulder as if about to push it again.

Grimlock shook his head at that, thinking that she was just being stubborn. Deciding to help her anyway and thus show her the proper way to do things, he headed toward her. He had barely taken two steps forward, however, when a very deep cracking sound resonated through the air and the large boulder snapped in two at the Sadjen's feet. Smiling, Faera pushed one piece away, and then effortlessly did the same with the second one as well.

Grimlock blinked for several moments, trying to figure out what had just happened. All she did was touch the rock, and yet it cracked open as though she had punched it.

She smiled at him, obviously seeing through the Dinobot's puzzlement.

"Thermal energy," she explained. She held up her hands, just in time to reveal a soft green glow in her palms before it vanished completely. "It comes in handy in times like these."

Grimlock nodded slowly, just like he did whenever Perceptor talked to him and the Dinobot acted like he understood at least half of the things the scientist told him. Even so, Grimlock did realise something very important.

"You Faera could do that to us Dinobots too," he noted thoughtfully.

She shook her head at once. "That could have killed you, and that wasn't the point of the fight," she said. "Just as it wasn't your point to try and kill me."

Grimlock let out a loud grunt. "You Sadjen talk like him Optimus Prime now," he said. "Me Grimlock hate that."

"Oh?" she said, amused. "Why is that?"

"Because him Prime not weak. That means you Faera not weak either. Not as weak as me Grimlock thought first anyway," the Dinobot leader admitted grudgingly. Thankfully, the other Dinobots weren't around to hear him, an encouraging thought under the circumstances.

Faera quirked an eyebrow. "Are you actually apologising to me?" she asked.

Grimlock looked down at his feet. "Me Grimlock guess so," he muttered.

She chuckled a bit. "Ironic. And here I was, ready to thank you."

To say Grimlock was taken aback would have been an understatement. He stared down at her incredulously, thinking that his audios merely played tricks on him. "Thank? Me Grimlock?"

She nodded, humming her affirmation. "It was a good fight; the best one I had in centuries, in fact," she said, "So thank you for that."

Grimlock's ego certainly wanted to hear those words. Feeling his spark swelling with pride, Grimlock patted Faera on the shoulder, his visor flashing brilliantly.

"You Faera welcome," he said magnanimously. "But me Grimlock still want rematch!"

She grinned cheekily. "Careful what you wish for; we just might have one."

"Good! Me Grimlock look forward to it!" the Dinobot leader declared.

"So am I," she replied, green eyes bright with mirth.

* * *

Red Alert cocked his head, still looking at the monitors with a look of disbelief reflected in his optics. Smokescreen, on the other hand, chuckled softly.

"Well, well…" he said. "I never thought I'd ever see something like this."

"I don't understand it," Red Alert said, watching Faera and Grimlock now working side by side as a team. "Grimlock likes no one but himself, and yet here he is, conversing with her as if they're friends!"

"No, not friends," Smokescreen corrected. "Equals."

"We're still talking about Grimlock," Red Alert said. "He didn't win the match, and that doesn't seem to concern him at all."

"She didn't win either. More importantly, she didn't _lose_," the blue Datsun said. "None of us can claim that kind of feat; not even Megatron."

Red Alert shook his head in thought. "That only shows how dangerous she can be if she decides to turn against us."

"And how dangerous the other Sadjen will be if the Decepticons intend to use him against us," Smokescreen argued. "So we should consider it fortunate that she's on our side."

"I suppose," Red Alert agreed. He cast a brief glance to a couple of monitors to his left in order to check things inside the Ark, and he spotted Inferno and Blaster conversing in the common room. "What do you think is the story between those two?"

Smokescreen grinned. "Between Inferno and Blaster?"

"No! Between Faera and that Ebon character," Red Alert answered exasperatedly before muttering under his breath something about minds in a gutter. "Why do you think they hate each other so much?"

Smokescreen pursed his lips momentarily. "In all honesty?"

Red Alert nodded.

"I don't think they hate each other," the blue Datsun said. He quickly raised his hand in a gesture of silence when the security chief opened his mouth to speak, clearly in shock. "I don't mean it the way it sounded like," he explained. "He certainly hates her, there's no question about it. But, if Prime's story is accurate, it means she had plenty of chances to kill him and yet she didn't. She preferred to leave him be instead."

Red Alert's optics dimmed slightly as the security chief considered what Smokescreen told him. "She fought him in Santorini."

"Only when she had no other choice."

Red Alert had to admit Smokescreen had a point. He tapped his stylus on the control board absentmindedly. "She did say she didn't want to be the last of her kind."

"And I don't doubt it's true," Smokescreen said. "Still… I can't help thinking that there's something else too."

"Like what?" Red Alert asked.

"I don't know yet," the blue Datsun admitted, "But I might find out."

* * *

Ratchet pressed a button to activate the drawer where he usually kept his medical tools, then cast a brief glance in Swoop's direction. He couldn't help but smile to see the pteranodon in his robot mode, still recharging in spite of the noise the medic just made. Nevertheless, Ratchet didn't intend to disturb his patient any further. Swoop needed the rest, so Ratchet would just put his scalpel and wrench back in their place and then he'd retire to his own room.

He frowned when he heard a light tapping sound on the door. His first instinctive thought was that one of the Twins, or even both of them, had scrapped themselves yet _again_, and Ratchet's fingers clenched around the wrench, holding it so tightly that it was a miracle it didn't break in two. But then, as another short tap cut into his musings, Ratchet realised that no one in the Ark _ever_ knocked on the door to his medbay; they would just press the call button, or simply rush inside if there was an emergency. Unless…

As a new suspicion formed in the back of his processor, Ratchet pressed the enter button to let Faera inside. Sure enough, the girl was on the doorstep, green eyes darting in every direction to check the room that was revealed before her. Finally, she caught sight of Swoop on the berth and regarded Ratchet apprehensively.

"Am I intruding?" she asked in a soft tone.

"Not really," Ratchet replied, shaking his head. "I was about to call it a night actually."

"Ah," she said, understanding. "I should go then."

"No, it's alright," the medic said reassuringly, stopping Faera as she was about to turn on her heel and walk away. "I take it you and Grimlock are done with the cleaning up?"

She nodded. "We finished about ten Earth minutes ago." She shifted on her legs, contemplating on her next words. "Grimlock went to find the other Dinobots, so… I was wondering if I could check on the one that stayed here."

Ratchet didn't expect that, truth be told. "You didn't have to. He's resting," he said.

"So he's not in any danger?" she asked.

"None." Ratchet smiled a bit as he took in that subtle tone of concern in her voice. "He wasn't hit that badly."

She sighed in relief, and a wan smile flicked on her lips. "Good," was all she said before she turned around, ready to leave again. But Ratchet stopped her anew, red fingers curling around her arm.

"You can stay with him for a while if you want."

"Really?" Faera asked.

Ratchet nodded in a friendly manner, and he beckoned her inside. Faera seemed hesitant for a few moments, but she finally walked all the way inside. Her step was light and cautious, and Ratchet couldn't help but watch her move with the air of an organic creature walking through an unknown territory.

"You haven't been in here before, have you?" the medic asked. He knew the answer, of course, but he figured it would only be polite to engage her in some kind of conversation.

"No," she answered. "We just passed by here with Jazz on my first day in the Ark, while you were working on Mirage." She stood over Swoop and fixed her eyes on the young Dinobot's face. "Is he sleeping?"

Ratchet nodded again. "We call it recharging, actually."

"Yes, I suppose it makes sense," she mused in a soft tone.

Ratchet paused for a moment, looking at her closely. "Jazz told me your kind has a sleep mode, too."

"We do," she replied with a nod. "But we call it dormant state," she added, her lips tugging upwards in mild mirth.

Swoop twitched a bit, something that made Faera tense quite visibly.

"Don't worry. It's normal," Ratchet reassured her.

Sure enough, Swoop kept recharging, and the Sadjen relaxed once more. Ratchet wasn't really sure how long they stayed like that, Faera watching Swoop and Ratchet watching her. But then, the medic saw something that took him by surprise. Faera extended her hand forward, as if wishing to touch Swoop's face, only to remember herself in the last moment. Feeling suddenly very self-conscious, she drew back at once.

"I'm sorry," she murmured, looking at Ratchet apologetically.

"It's fine," Ratchet said. "You didn't do anything wrong."

"Nevertheless, I should go," she replied, and made a small bow in Ratchet's direction. "Thank you for letting me see him. I'm sorry for any inconvenience I might have caused."

With that, she walked out of the medbay without looking back, leaving Ratchet alone with his thoughts. Indeed, Ratchet felt one thought after another filling his processor after noticing the look Faera gave Swoop as she reached for him. It was kind and even… tender.

Ratchet understood. She wanted to comfort the young one. Just as she had tried to comfort and help Bumblebee when the minibot was damaged back in Santorini. That made Ratchet realise that, though she described herself as a soldier who destroyed her home planet because her race found any form of weakness unacceptable, she didn't disregard life. If anything, she seemed to value life more than ever precisely because she was forced to destroy her home planet and every living thing on it. And though Ratchet didn't think it was possible, he was glad at that notion, for he deemed that he could consider Faera a worthy part of the Ark crew now. Primus permit, perhaps even consider her a friend in time.

He would just have to wait and see.

_TBC..._


	7. The Power Plants

When Optimus entered his office that morning, he was glad to see that there was an incoming message on his terminal, for he knew who had sent it. He sat at his desk at once and pressed the enter button to receive the message. The monitor sprang to life, and Optimus felt his spark fluttering in his chest-plate as Elita's face appeared on screen.

"Hello, Optimus. I hope this message finds you safe. I know we're supposed to be the only ones to use this frequency, but I can't help but worry that the Decepticons might intercept anything I send you. Even so, I don't want us to feel apart, even though we can't be together… not yet at least."

Optimus sighed, resting his chin on one hand and the other reaching for the screen. Gentle blue fingers traced the femme's visage longingly. It felt like only yesterday when he once believed that he would never see her again. And then, as if Primus took pity on the two lovers, Optimus found out that Elita wasn't only alive, but even leading a resistance group on Cybertron. Now both of them worked together, trying to bring this war to an end as they sent messages to each other, sending information about any Decepticon activity. It wasn't easy and there was always the danger of losing each other all over again, but it was a risk worth taking.

Hmm… it seemed that Megatron had asked Shockwave to send via the spacebridge some parts of a particular circuitry. One of the femmes, Nightrider, managed to steal the blueprints of the particular circuitry, hoping that one of the Autobot engineers would be able to figure out what it is. And, since Wheeljack was the top engineer, Elita attached the blueprints to the message so that the Lancia could have a look at them too.

Optimus made a mental note to talk to Wheeljack once he perused the whole message. He knew that the engineer was busy working on Faera's transmitter, and then he would have to fix the cannons within the Ark perimeter. Still, the Autobot leader was also aware that this was something that couldn't wait for long. If Megatron was planning to build a new kind of weapon, then the Autobots had to be prepared for it.

He put his musings to a stop when he realised that Elita had stopped talking. He stared at the azure optics that seemed to lock on his face, and he wasn't sure what to make of the rueful expression reflected within them.

"I miss you," she whispered.

Those three simple words strummed within Optimus feelings that he had subdued long ago in the name of duty.

"Elita…" he breathed out.

_I miss you too._

The spell broke at the chime of a call-button. Optimus ended the message immediately and faced the door.

"Yes?"

The door opened and Prowl stepped in the office, holding a couple of datapads in his hands. Optimus sighed mentally, aware that work was catching up with him once more.

"These are Blaster and Cosmos' reports," Prowl said, handing the datapads to Optimus.

"And the main gist is?" Optimus asked, already turning on the datapads to scan through their contents.

"No Decepticon activity detected so far," Prowl answered. "Although that doesn't mean anything; they could be plotting. And now that the Decepticons have Ebon in their hands, they could try to figure out a way to use him against us."

"Just as we fear," Optimus said with a nod.

It was then that the thought occurred to Optimus. Feeling his optics widening, he put the datapads down.

"They've probably already figured it out."

"Optimus?" the tactician asked, not really understanding.

"I've just received a message from Elita-1," Optimus explained, bringing the blueprints of the circuitry on screen to show them to Prowl. "At first I believed that it was the component of a new weapon, but now…"

Prowl raised an optic ridge as he examined the blueprints. "Why build a weapon when you have one already?"

"Exactly," Optimus said. "There is a chance that the circuitry has a connection to Ebon."

"It's a logical probability," Prowl said. He pursed his lip components in thought for a moment. "Do you think we should inform Faera about it?"

"No. Not before we have something definite in our hands," Optimus replied. "And… I think _I_ should talk to her if and when the time comes."

"I understand."

"Thank you, Prowl," Optimus said. "Since we're at it, how's the matter with Faera proceeding?"

"A lot better than I expected," Prowl said with a nod. "However, we had to halt any further tests for now because of yesterday's sparring."

"How so?" Optimus asked, looking at the tactician curiously.

"Wheeljack and Perceptor pointed out that they didn't want any more delays to their own work if it can be helped," Prowl said. "So, I gave them permission to stay in the laboratory with Faera all day in order to finish by tomorrow. This way, we can proceed with the tests without more setbacks."

Optimus rubbed his chin in thought. "I was hoping I'd be able to talk to Wheeljack about the circuitry today. I suppose I will have to wait till he's done."

"That would be best; we'll have our own hands full anyway," Prowl said. "There's the issue concerning the power plants at Boardman to be taken care of. All three directors are worried about possible Decepticon attacks and they want us to check the efficiency of the security systems."

"Very well," Optimus said, and he stood up. "Let's go. I will also need your opinion in this matter."

Prowl shifted on his legs. It was a small, subtle motion, but the Autobot leader detected it nonetheless.

"Prime, if it's all right with you, I'd suggest Red Alert to accompany you. He'll be able to offer you just as sound advice," the tactician said.

Optimus raised an optic ridge. "Is there a reason for this request?"

"There will be several Autobots returning from their patrols today and I have to receive their reports."

Of course. Optimus had almost forgotten about that. This week there was a change of shifts, which meant that the Autobots who were out of the Oregon State would come back to replace the Autobots who had duties in the Ark. It was a monthly arrangement that Optimus and Prowl had set from the first days on Earth, and it was convenient for the rest of the troops too. And, if Optimus's memory served him right, the Aerialbots, Tracks and Bluestreak were scheduled to return today. Still, Optimus was sure Jazz could handle…

Oh. _Oh._ Optimus was grateful for his battle mask, for a knowing smile formed on his lip components before he could help it. Only Prowl would use work as an excuse to stay behind in order to welcome his protégé back. At times like these, Optimus believed that his second-in-command was truly hopeless. But, the Autobot leader also knew how fond Prowl was of the young gunner, even if Prowl himself would probably never admit it in words. After all, Bluestreak was one of the few things that helped the tactician stay in touch with his caring side in a time when all of Prowl's actions had to be driven by logic and duty.

"Permission granted," Optimus finally declared as he walked towards the exit. "Summon Red Alert and tell him to meet me at the entrance of the Ark. I'm leaving you in charge here."

"I will. Thank you, Prime," Prowl replied, a small smile tugging on his features.

-----------------

As soon as Red Alert reported for duty, he and Optimus sped off towards the city of Boardman. It was raining quite heavily during the whole drive. That, however, hardly deterred the two Autobots, who managed to reach the first power plant in a little less than two hours. The director was already informed of their arrival, so he was expecting them at the entrance personally.

"Ah," the human said as soon as the Autobots transformed to their robot mode. "I'm glad you responded to my call so soon."

"The protection of the power plants in important to us, Mr. Kinney," Optimus said. "We don't want the Decepticons to steal the energy you produce and use it to their own ends."

"That makes two of us," Mr. Kinney replied. "The workers are intimidated by the Decepticons and even fear for their lives. I don't want anything to happen that can compromise this plant."

"That's why we're here, Mr. Kinney," Optimus replied reassuringly, and he motioned his hand in Red Alert's direction. "This is Security Chief Red Alert. He's here to examine the alarm and camera system you have installed in the structure."

"Good," Mr. Kinney said, relieved. "Walk this way."

Optimus and Red Alert followed obediently, and they heard everything the human had to say. Since the Decepticons were made of metal, the director thought it was wise to place metal detectors in the outside perimeter of the plant. And, since most of the Decepticons had the ability to fly, Mr. Kinney made sure that there was a small, yet efficient radar operating at all times, detecting any suspicious activity. All these were connected to the main computer installed in the control room, and a guard was watching the monitor at all hours, ready to raise the alarm in case of an emergency.

"What about surveillance cameras?" Red Alert asked, looking at his surroundings thoroughly.

"We have about three in the control room alone, and there's at least one in each corridor," Mr. Kinney said. "They're also connected to the main computer."

"I see…" Red Alert said in a musing tone.

"Is everything fine then?" Mr. Kinney asked.

"More or less, but not entirely," Red Alert replied. "I will have to install energy detectors and set them to scan for Decepticon signatures. And I'll also have to check the surveillance cameras for any blind spots. The Decepticons can easily find such loopholes and use them to their advantage."

"I understand," Mr. Kinney said. "Shall I take you to the control room?"

"If it's possible," Red Alert replied.

"Of course. Follow me."

* * *

"Thundercracker, Skywarp, are you in position?" Megatron asked. He had ordered the two Seekers to go to the spacebridge and await the machine parts that Shockwave was to send to Earth. However, as time passed, the Decepticon leader became impatient to the point that he had started pacing up and down the control room. In the end, he decided to make sure that his subordinates hadn't blundered. Again.

"Have been for the last Earth hour," Skywarp replied. "But we got info from Shockwave that a meteor shower is causing disturbances in the transmissions. He can't pinpoint the exact location of the spacebridge and type down the right coordinates."

"And did he say how long the meteor shower will last?" Megatron asked.

"About three Earth hours," Thundercracker said.

"Three hours?! This is outrageous!" Megatron exclaimed, but he quickly composed himself. "Eh, no matter. Stay guard at the space-bridge and make sure no Autobot sees you."

"Understood," Thundercracker said. "Thundercracker out."

The transmission had barely ended when Megatron heard the characteristic sound of an incoming message.

"Soundwave to Megatron. Requesting response."

Megatron activated his communication frequencies once more, hoping that his spy had better news to tell him than his Seekers. "Report, Soundwave."

"I've just received new info from Ravage and Reflector."

"Is it about the female Sadjen, then?"

"Negative," Soundwave answered. "The Sadjen didn't exit the Ark today. But Optimus Prime and the security chief by the name of Red Alert did. Course: north to northeast."

"Really?" Megatron was certainly intrigued now. "Give me a moment, Soundwave," he said, and he went up to the controls so he could see for himself what could be of interest in the area Prime and Red Alert had gone to. After all, that paranoid Lamborghini never left the base unless he absolutely had to. Like, say… check the security systems at the power plants in Boardman. Megatron clearly saw the structures on screen, fully operational and producing much-coveted energy.

So… what kind of security _was _there? The Decepticon leader supposed it would be a pity to waste an opportunity like that.

"Soundwave, do you read me?"

"Affirmative," the spy answered in his monotone voice.

"Seek out Optimus Prime and Autobot Red Alert; find out what's in that pipsqueak's processor and report back to me at once. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Megatron."

"Excellent. Now go, and do not fail me," Megatron said, a smirk forming on his lips as he ended the transmission.

Prime wouldn't know what hit him.

----------------

Soundwave knew that none of Megatron's commands were to be denied. As soon as he reported to his leader, he set off to find Optimus Prime and Red Alert and carry out his mission. Though he wasn't a Seeker, Soundwave could still fly at a fairly good speed, so it wouldn't be long before he found the two Autobots.

Sure enough, his scanners picked up the energy signatures of two Autobots, travelling towards the Ark. And, more importantly, Soundwave could easily make out the familiar shape of Optimus Prime in his alternate mode, accompanied by a red and white automobile – Security Chief Red Alert. They were obviously returning to their base after finishing with their work.

It was also the perfect chance for Soundwave to catch both Autobots by surprise. After landing at a good enough spot to avoid detection, Soundwave pressed the summoning button on his shoulder twice.

"Rumble, Frenzy, eject. Operation: Interception."

* * *

"That took a lot less time than I had thought," Red Alert admitted, still driving next to Optimus Prime. "The directors of the power plants were very cooperative."

"They had to trust your better judgement in order to keep the plants safe, Red," Optimus said. "Let's hope that the Decepticons won't get any ideas before the directors are done with the modifications you suggested."

"That makes two of us," Red Alert said. At the next moment, however, the Lamborghini screeched to a halt and transformed, his blaster already in his hand.

Alarmed, Optimus put on the brakes as well, and directed his sensors to Red Alert to check what was wrong. The way Red Alert stood, tension coursing through his relays and the detectors on his helm flashing rapidly, he knew it couldn't be good news.

"What is it, Red?" he asked. "Decepticons?"

"I'm not sure," Red Alert answered, turning his gaze to all directions in the hopes of catching sight of anything out of the ordinary. "The ground feels strange."

Optimus didn't know what to make of that statement at first, but he soon sensed slight tremors underneath his tires. He transformed at once, standing by Red Alert's side.

"Earthquake?"

"I hope so," Red Alert replied, his optics widening as the tremors increased in volume. "Otherwise, it means we'll have to deal with--"

The words died in the Lamborghini's vocaliser, for it was then that the ground tore in two. Both Autobots tried to keep their balance, but it seemed impossible; the chasm only grew wider. Optimus swiftly opened his communication frequencies.

"This is Optimus Prime. Red Alert and I request assistance. Our coordinates are--"

"Prime!"

Everything happened so quickly that Optimus barely had time to register it all. He saw Frenzy aim at him with both guns, but Red Alert jumped forward, taking the blow that was meant for Optimus. A cry of pain tore out of the security chief, and he would have certainly crashed on the ground if Optimus hadn't caught him at the last moment. The next thing the Autobot leader knew, Soundwave lunged and managed a powerful kick at him, sending him flying into the chasm Rumble had formed with his pile-drivers… and then there was nothingness.

* * *

The first thing that Optimus saw when he onlined his optics was the orange ceiling of the Ark. He didn't understand why he was lying down at first, and he tried to get up in order to check his surroundings. That, however, turned out to be a bad idea. Everything started spinning around him, making him feel more than just a little dizzy. Thankfully, a pair of arms pushed him down on the berth once more.

"You'd better hold still, Prime. The fall has knocked your equilibrium circuits out of place."

"Ratchet…" Optimus turned to the medic and tried to focus on him, but it was difficult. "What… happened?"

A frown crossed Ratchet's features. "What do you remember?"

Optimus shut his optics and searched his most recent memory info. The file was corrupted and he could only unscramble bits and pieces of it, but it was still enough to complete the puzzle.

"Soundwave surprised us," he said, and he looked at Ratchet again, worry gnawing at his insides now. "Is Red alright?"

"He's out of danger. Hoist is with him as we speak," Ratchet replied. "That is the good news."

Optimus didn't like the sound of that at all. "What is the bad news?"

Ratchet pursed his lips momentarily. "By the time we found you, Soundwave was gone. However, when I did a primary scan on the two of you, I found Red's firewalls down."

The Autobot leader's optics widened. "Soundwave hacked into Red's processor?"

Ratchet nodded, and he placed a hand on Optimus' shoulder when Optimus tried to get up again. "You didn't hear the rest of the news."

"Ratchet, if the Decepticons got access to the Ark's security system--"

"They didn't," the medic said. "That was the first thing we checked."

"Then what were they looking for?" Optimus wondered, confused. At the next moment, though, realisation caught up with him. "The security system of the power plants."

"And that's not all," Ratchet said, looking quite serious. "According to some further scanning I did, Red's memory databanks have been accessed too; Soundwave downloaded yesterday's files."

"But Red was on surveillance," Optimus said, frowning. "Why would Soundwave download those files?"

"I don't know," Ratchet answered.

* * *

"… _If Prime's story is accurate, it means she had plenty of chances to kill him and yet she didn't. She preferred to leave him be instead."_

"_She fought him in Santorini."_

"_Only when she had no other choice."_

Megatron waved his hand just once and Soundwave stopped the playback. Both the spy and Starscream – the only other Decepticons currently inside the control room besides Megatron – could see that the Decepticon leader's lips were tugged to a big smirk, while his optics reflected his amusement.

"So it appears the female Sadjen shares with the Autobots the same sentimentality. Pathetic," Megatron declared before facing Soundwave once more. "Well done, Soundwave. That was quite the worthwhile piece of information you found."

"You actually congratulate him?" Starscream exclaimed indignantly. "He had the perfect opportunity to scan for the codes to the Ark, and he wasted it to download some idle chit chat!"

"Starscream, at times like these I wonder why you're my second-in-command. If any Autobot officer is attacked, the first thing that changes is the codes to the security systems. Even if we got Red Alert's access codes, they would become invalid by the time we could pull a full assault," Megatron said, then rubbed his chin as an idea formed in his mind. "On the other hand, the humans aren't that fast. They can't be. So, if we act within the next few days, we'll be able to get all the energy we want."

"But what about the Autobots?" Starscream argued. "Optimus Prime isn't a fool, Megatron. By the time we go for the plants, every one of those meddling tin-cans will be waiting for us with their entire arsenal."

"And that is when they'll be in for a little surprise," Megatron said, and he activated his communication frequencies. "Thundercracker, has Shockwave sent the machine parts I asked for?"

"Yeah, he did," Thundercracker said. "We got them about thirty Earth minutes ago, and we're returning to base presently."

"Excellent," Megatron said, and he ended the transmission. He faced the air commander again, a calculating expression in his optics. "How long will it take you to make the energy magnet?"

"Well, uh…" Starscream faltered, not expecting the question. "If I have the Constructicons' help, it shouldn't take me more than two days."

"Then that's all the time you'll have at your disposal," Megatron said. "I won't have any time wasted on incompetence. Have I made myself clear, Starscream?"

"Perfectly, benevolent leader," Starscream said, trying to hide the dismay from his voice. "However, I should point out that we'll have to test the efficiency of the energy magnet first."

"Oh, we will, Starscream," Megatron declared in an almost sweet tone. "I've even come up with an ideal test for our slave."

With that, the Decepticon leader's triumphant laughter reverberated through the control room, a sign that the plan was officially set in motion.

_TBC..._


	8. Smokescreen

Smokescreen stretched his back, wincing at the sound his gears made after remaining locked in the same position for hours on end. Ever since Red Alert left to attend to that power plant business with Optimus Prime, the former gambler had done nothing else but watch the monitors. And, now that Red was in the medbay recovering from the blast he had suffered after Soundwave's attack, it looked like Smokescreen would stay alone in the surveillance room a lot longer than planned.

Though another Autobot would have probably cringed at the notion, Smokescreen didn't mind at all. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to watch some of his fellow comrades without being noticed. Even better, he could eavesdrop on them all he liked, and none would be the wiser.

Smokescreen grinned. If there was one thing that he enjoyed besides gambling, it was studying others. A mech's stance, his movements, even the way he talked and gestured, provided the blue Datsun with a plethora of information about said mech's personality. It had started as a means to 'read' a fellow gambler in deck games, but it soon became a habit to the point that Smokescreen became quite an expert at it. That kind of ability was one of the reasons Optimus appointed him as the Ark's resident psychologist and consultant. If any Autobot had a problem that was far from physical, he could go to Smokescreen either for advice or just to get the problem off his chest-plate. For Smokescreen never betrayed anyone's trust. He always kept those sort of conversations confidential, and only Optimus had the right to know about them – under special circumstances.

Even so, it wasn't always enough. Though almost all of his fellow Autobots went to the blue Datsun for one reason or other, it didn't necessarily mean they were completely open to him. Smokescreen discovered a long time ago that a mech let his guard down when he believed no one was watching him. So now, thanks to the monitors, he could see how concerned Inferno was about Red Alert by the way his gaze drifted toward the medbay each time he passed by the particular room. He could also see how tired Prowl was as he worked in his office; the manner in which the black and white door panels drooped behind the tactician's back was unmistakable. And, of course, he could see how close a clique the minibots formed as they worked together during maintenance duty in comfortable silence, or how enthusiastically Jazz and Blaster talked about some music track or other that they'd heard just minutes ago.

After deeming that he had seen enough for the moment, Smokescreen pressed some of the buttons to change the view in the monitors. He was curious to see which Autobots were in the common room, a place that provided the blue Datsun with quite the interesting information. It was rather late, but Smokescreen felt that there was no harm in trying his luck.

Sure enough, Bluestreak was in the common room, finally back from his patrol in Philadelphia. The young gunner was sitting quietly on the couch with a small energon cube in his hands, his stance quite relaxed. Still, his expression was thoughtful, and he seemed to sip his drink in an absentminded manner.

Those kinds of signs were only too clear to Smokescreen's optics. Bluestreak was feeling lonely. When that happened, Bluestreak's processor drifted unwittingly to unwelcome memories and regrets. Admittedly, Smokescreen rarely witnessed Bluestreak in such a listless mood; Prowl was always there for the young gunner, offering his subtle, yet unmistakably caring support. But the tactician was currently in his office, swamped in work after the unexpected attack on Optimus.

_Right_. Smokescreen opened his communication frequencies, intending to contact Bluestreak and ask him to come to the surveillance room and keep the former gambler company. However, at the last moment, his optics caught sight of something black entering the common room. Bluestreak noticed it too, and he blinked in surprise at the non-metallic being that regarded him curiously.

"I apologise," Faera said. "I didn't mean to alarm you."

Bluestreak smiled politely. "Don't worry about it. I didn't hear you come in, that's all."

"I guess that's to be expected from someone whose feet don't clank," Faera noted in a musing tone. She paused for a moment, trying to figure out what she should do, and she finally stepped closer to the silver mech, her hand extended forward. "I'm Faera, by the way."

"Yes, I know," Bluestreak said and completed the handshake. "My friend and I were informed of your arrival while we were on a mission."

"Oh?" Faera asked.

"Yeah," Bluestreak replied. "Well, Tracks, my friend that is, got a message from Red Alert that said "We have a guest in the Ark. Her name is Faera and you'll meet her upon your return to base" and we got curious. So Tracks asked if it was any of the femmes from Elita's group back on Cybertron, but, of course, Red said "No." At that, we got really curious and we hardly had our processors on the mission afterwards. Fortunately, nothing bad came out of it, or this would have meant trouble, and that would have disappointed Prowl for sure and I don't want--"

Smokescreen winced to see that Bluestreak had forgotten himself and he was rambling. Though the rest of the Autobots were used to the young gunner's particular quirk that derived from Bluestreak's need for companionship, there was no telling how Faera would react. The blue Datsun wouldn't blame her if she found it weird or worse.

That was probably something that Bluestreak must have realised too, albeit belatedly. His voice trailed off, and he scratched the back of his helm embarrassedly.

"Sorry."

Strangely, Faera frowned in genuine confusion. "For what?"

That stunned Bluestreak. "My, uh… you know…" he faltered, motioning one of his hands in a gesture as if he was trying to come up with the right words, "…My babbling. I tend to do that sometimes." He paused for a moment, thinking his statement through. "Actually, I tend to do that a lot of times, except when I'm in battle or when I'm recharging. Although Prowl did say once that he heard me talk in my sleep, which is no surprise since we share the same room. But, knowing Prowl, I bet it happened more than once and he was just too nice to tell me. Honestly, I hate keeping him up, because he always works so hard and he needs all the rest he can get, and I feel like I'm… and I've just done it again," he concluded, his face-plate reddening.

Faera actually laughed a bit, and she patted Bluestreak gently on the shoulder. "Listen…" She froze, realising something, "You've never told me your name, have you?"

"Ugh… Sorry again," the silver mech said, his face plate almost crimson now. "It's Bluestreak."

"Okay," Faera said, nodding. "Listen, Bluestreak. Perceptor and Wheeljack have already said that I don't have to act against my nature when I'm around you guys. But that can work both ways; none of you have to act against your nature on my account. So if you want to talk, talk."

"You won't be saying that when I'm on a roll," Bluestreak pointed out with a light, sheepish chuckle.

She didn't answer, yet she accepted Bluestreak's humour with a smile before her gaze drifted to their surroundings, green eyes scanning the common room. "How come you're here by yourself?"

Bluestreak swirled the contents of the cube and sipped some more of the luminescent liquid. "Tracks went to have a shower, so you're not gonna see him in the next couple of hours at least," he said with a mischievous grin, which faded at the next moment as he sobered. "So I stayed here, since Prowl said that he would meet me here after he's done with his work. But after what happened to Optimus and Red Alert, I'm sure he got stuck in his office again, filling in for them."

"Wait," Faera said, "What happened to them?"

Bluestreak tilted his head. "Haven't you heard? They were returning from some kind of mission when Soundwave ambushed them."

"Are they alright?" the Sadjen asked, eyes reflecting her concern.

"Well, yeah. I mean, Ratchet said they're out of danger," the gunner replied. "Optimus should be up and about by tomorrow."

That seemed to appease Faera, for a small sigh of relief flowed out of her lips. "Good." She rubbed the back of her neck, wincing slightly. "Um… is it okay if I sit?"

Bluestreak understood, and he motioned his hand to the spot next to him. "Go ahead. I could use the company."

Smokescreen couldn't help but smile. It looked like Bluestreak wouldn't stay alone after all.

"Thanks," she said, and then she sat down, clearly happy that she got the chance to rest for a while.

The gunner raised an optic ridge, a knowing expression on his features. "Long day?"

"In a way," she answered. "But I'm done for today, at least. Wheeljack and Perceptor are still working."

"Yeah, I'm not surprised," Bluestreak said. "Whenever they're focused on some new invention or other, they practically forget about everything else, including recharging."

"Sounds like it's a habit of theirs," Faera noted.

"It is," Bluestreak said with a chuckle. "It's a good thing it doesn't happen often, or then we would have three Prowls instead of one."

Faera couldn't help it but chuckle as well, but the question was evident in her eyes. "So… I take it you and Prowl are brothers?"

The gunner blinked, but then mouthed a small "oh" and shook his head, amused. "No. We just look alike. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker are the only real siblings within the Ark."

"And yet you sound quite fond of him," Faera said, regarding Bluestreak in a curious manner.

"I am," Bluestreak answered with a smile. "There probably aren't all that many who can see it, but Prowl's a kind and gentle mech deep inside." He took another sip from his energon and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "It's just that… this war cost him a lot. It cost a lot to all of us."

Faera nodded her understanding. "War works that way," she said. "It shatters everything you know, and then you have to find the strength to pick up whatever pieces you can and move on."

Bluestreak looked down at his drink, humming his affirmation and agreement. That, of course, came as no surprise to Smokescreen. If there was anyone within the Ark who knew exactly what Faera was talking about, it was Bluestreak.

"You sound like you know something about that," the gunner said, optics still locked on his cube.

Faera pursed her lips momentarily and shrugged. It was enough as an answer, and it urged Bluestreak to boldly reach out and place a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Faera accepted that kind gesture with a wan smile, and she looked up at the silver mech. "You know… From all the Autobots I've encountered here in the Ark, you're the first one who doesn't seem uncomfortable with me around. Why is that?"

"I'm… not sure," Bluestreak admitted. "I think it's because you remind me of someone." He paused for a moment, then finally looked at the Sadjen from the corner of his optics in a shy manner. "You actually smile the way my mother used to."

"I do?" Faera asked, surprised.

"Yeah," Bluestreak replied, yet his expression became almost wistful. "It's one of the few things I remember about her."

The Sadjen's eyes widened subtly. "How did she die?"

Smokescreen sat up. He certainly hadn't expected Faera to reach to such a conclusion so fast and actually be correct about it. If Bluestreak was taken aback at those words, though, he didn't show it; he was slowly getting lost in memory.

"It happened too quickly," he said. "At one moment, I was recharging in my berth, lulled by the quiet of the night, and at the next… chaos. The area we were in got bombed, the roof of our house collapsed and… she pushed me out of the way."

"I see," Faera said quietly. "I'm sorry."

"Me too," Bluestreak replied, optics stubbornly locked on his drink. "I didn't want her to die."

"Of course you didn't," the Sadjen said sincerely. "But she also wanted you to live."

Bluestreak didn't say anything; he just remained staring at the energon. Faera heaved a sigh.

"I upset you," she said, and she made a motion to stand up.

Bluestreak, however, gripped one of her hands gently.

"You didn't," he said, finally looking up once more. "I'm glad you are here, Faera. I mean it. All this time, we've been fighting against the Decepticons without any chance of victory in sight, because both factions are equally matched. Maybe you're just that extra something we need so that this war will finally come to an end."

"Wars don't end that easily," Faera pointed out with a shake of her head. But, when she saw Bluestreak's face drop in disappointment, she squeezed the white fingers in reassurance. "Nevertheless… I promised Optimus to offer my help in any way I can, and I intend to keep my word."

Bluestreak's optics brightened, reflecting his brief smile. "I guess that's good enough."

Faera's lips tugged to a smile once more. But then, suddenly, the Sadjen tilted her head, a sign that her ears picked up some sort of sound.

"Prowl is on his way," she declared, and stood up. "I had better head off."

"Are you sure?" Bluestreak asked. "Prowl won't mind if you're here."

"Perhaps not, but I need to have some proper rest," Faera replied, and bowed her head a bit in a polite gesture of thanks. "I enjoyed our conversation, Bluestreak. I hope we'll get to talk again soon."

"I hope so too," the gunner replied with a nod.

Faera didn't say anything else; she turned on her heel and walked out through a door to Bluestreak's left. At the next moment, Prowl appeared through the main entrance to the common room, looking quite tired. Even so, his optics seemed to light up slightly when they caught sight of Bluestreak, and the tactician managed a small smile.

"Hey…"

That was all Prowl needed to say. At the next moment, Bluestreak stood up and rushed to his mentor, embracing him tightly.

"Missed you," he murmured.

Prowl couldn't help but wrap one of his arms around the young one's shoulders. "I missed you too, Bluestreak."

Neither Datsun was aware that Faera had stopped on her tracks and watched their reunion from a distance. Smokescreen, on the other hand, saw everything, including the look on the Sadjen's face before she continued on her way. It was as if some sort of memory played in her mind's eye – a bittersweet one at that.

Frowning slightly, Smokescreen activated a recorder in his arm, and started talking on the microphone that popped out of the blue plating.

"Consultant entry, Earth date: September 10th, 1987. Object of observation: Faera.

"Though formerly leading a lonely existence, the new addition to the crew has shown great adaptability in complying with the rules within the Ark without protests. She shows no evident signs of discomfort, while she remains courteous and willing to interact with the Autobots whenever provided with the chance. However, it seems she longs for further contact on the friendly level rather than the professional one with which she has been treated thus far by most of the crewmembers. This probably has to do with the gregarious nature of her race, a characteristic that Autobot Skyfire has already pointed out.

"Even so, her taciturn behaviour has been noted on more than one occasion. In fact, she appears more eager to learn about the Autobots rather than vice versa. Although it can be put down to justified curiosity, it could also be part of her desire that her past should remain untouched.

"It should also be taken under consideration that what she doesn't say in words, she says only too clearly with action. As her means of communication primarily depends on body language in her alternate form, she's consequently quite expressive in her humanoid form too. Her eyes, in particular, often reveal thoughts and desires that she'd rather not voice. Her latest encounter with Autobot Bluestreak, as well as his interaction with Second-In-Command Prowl, have probably triggered memories of a time that she had enjoyed that kind of companionship between her people. Perhaps even the companionship of someone precious to her."

Smokescreen ended the recording, then leaned on the control panel, knitting his fingers together. All this time, he had heard several Autobots talk about how different Faera was from them, how strange and even odd. But… was she really all that different? Smokescreen had seen her joke, sadden, huff in dismay, grin cheekily, and fight with all the strength of her soul, just like any Autobot did. If that didn't make her the same with them, then what did?

His musings were cut short when he heard the soft whistle of an incoming transmission.

"Smokescreen, this is Ratchet. Do you read?"

Smokescreen had to admit that he didn't like the sound of things at all. If Ratchet called him at this hour, it meant that there was something very wrong.

"Smokescreen here," he replied, activating his communication frequencies. "What is it, Ratchet?"

"Red Alert came online a few minutes ago. He was agitated and even attempted to get up with the risk of reopening his wounds, so I had to sedate him."

"Blast it," Smokescreen hissed. Red had most probably suffered from shock after the attack. "I'll be right there."

"You'd better," Ratchet said, and he ended the transmission.

That was Smokescreen's cue to act quickly. He contacted Gears to relieve him, although that earned the blue Datsun a stream of complaints as the acknowledgement; then he exited the surveillance room. In a matter of moments, he walked inside the medbay, where Ratchet stood, already expecting him. Ratchet wasn't alone, though. Hoist was there, as well as Optimus, who had managed to bring himself into a sitting position when he'd got worried about Red Alert.

"Where's Red?" Smokescreen asked, optics drifting in every direction to catch sight of the security chief.

Hoist drew back a screen, revealing Red Alert behind it. He was lying on a berth, with his arm attached to a cable that poured the sedative Ratchet had used to calm him down into his system.

"Did he say anything?" Smokescreen said, curious.

"Nothing that we could make head or tail of," the medic replied. "One thing's for sure: he kept asking for you."

"Me?" Smokescreen exclaimed, surprised.

Ratchet nodded and stepped close to the lying form, his hands reaching for one of the controls. "I'm going to stop his sedation so you can talk to him. But he shouldn't be awake for more than five minutes; you'd better be quick."

Smokescreen nodded his understanding. Feeling Optimus and Hoist tense, the blue Datsun walked up to Red Alert's side, then looked up at Ratchet. Considering this as a sign to go ahead, Ratchet cut off the sedative flow.

It took a few minutes until Red Alert finally started coming around. Blue optics flickered on weakly, and arms twitched in an attempt to move.

Smokescreen placed a hand on Red Alert's shoulder. "Easy, Red. No need to get worked up."

Red Alert managed to lock his gaze on the Datsun, and his optics widened slightly. "Smokescreen…"

"Yeah, it's me," Smokescreen said, grinning slightly in reassurance before growing serious again. "Listen, Ratchet said that--"

Red Alert didn't let Smokescreen continue. He grabbed Smokescreen's arm instead, almost catching the former gambler by surprise. And yet what really sent a chill to Smokescreen's spark was what Red Alert whispered to him.

"Smokescreen, what did Red say?" Optimus asked, concerned.

Smokescreen let go of Red Alert and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Prime… We have a problem."

TBC...


	9. The Decepticons' Leash

_A/n: I hope none of you are squeamish of needles..._

* * *

Wheeljack woke up at the feeling of a warm hand shaking gently his shoulder, but he turned his head away and made himself comfortable again. At least, as comfortable as he could under the circumstances. The motion gears in his neck moved slowly and painfully, as though they had been locked for hours in an uncomfortable position. Even so, the engineer was too tired to care. He just wanted to sleep a few more moments.

"Wheeljack?"

Wheeljack onlined his optics at once, stunned to hear a femme's voice so close to him, and looked up. The voice didn't belong to a femme, though. He blinked dazedly at Faera, who looked back at him in a perplexed manner.

"Hey… What time is it?" he asked.

"Just past daybreak," the Sadjen answered. "I apologise for the inconvenience, but you said I could pass by at about this hour for the transmitter."

"Uh… right," Wheeljack rubbed the slumber off his optics and sat up on his chair. "Did Perceptor let you in?"

Faera shook her head with a small smile and pointed to another desk. The red and teal scientist was sprawled all over it, oblivious to everything as he was still in recharge. "I guess you were both really worn out," she said.

That, however, had Wheeljack frown, and he looked back at Faera in confusion. "Then how did you get in?"

Faera scratched her head embarrassedly. "Neither of you answered when I knocked or pressed the call button, so I let myself in."

Wheeljack mentally chided himself. He had completely forgotten about Faera's ability to activate any electronic device at will, or that it included locks as well. If Red Alert ever found _that _out, he was in for a computer crash for sure.

Still, this wasn't the time or the place to think about that. Today, after Primus knew how many hours of hard labour and an endless series of trials and errors, the two scientists would attempt to place the transmitter on Faera; they had to see if their invention worked.

"Get Perceptor up and tell him to prepare the syringe," he instructed Faera. "I'm gonna run one last diagnostic on the chip."

Faera nodded her compliance, although Wheeljack noticed a brief frown crossing her features at the word 'syringe'. But, he dismissed matters at once as he became focused on his task, which was checking the systems on the tiny chip so as to make sure everything was functioning properly. In less than five minutes, he was done, and he glued the chip on the silicon-based lamina Perceptor had already made.

"Are you finished?" Perceptor asked at that moment, holding a metallic syringe in his hands.

"Yup," the engineer replied, and he handed Perceptor the lamina.

Murmuring his thanks, Perceptor inserted the lamina in the syringe with experienced ease and then motioned his hand to a surgical berth next to him. "Lie down, Faera."

Faera did just that, her eyes fixed on the two Autobots. Though she tried not to show it, she was quite apprehensive of the procedure; both Wheeljack and Perceptor could tell.

"There's nothing to be scared of," Wheeljack said in reassurance, patting Faera on the shoulder. "Perceptor won't hurt you."

"Actually, there's a slight chance that the foreign object could--"

Wheeljack glared at Perceptor, making the red scientist clear his vocaliser and correct himself.

"I mean… no, I won't hurt you. But you might want to look away while I inject the chip on you."

"There's no need, I want to look," Faera said.

"Are you certain?" Perceptor asked, regarding her closely.

"Yes."

Wheeljack and Perceptor exchanged a glance, the same thought crossing their minds. Though Sadjens were powerful soldiers, they were by no means immune to fear; they simply braced themselves with enough courage to endure their fear. That was why Perceptor nodded in understanding, deciding not to insist any further, and examined Faera's chest-ridge. Once he found an ideal spot, he pressed the needle gently inside her chest, then injected the lamina. Faera watched the whole thing, and only rested her head back on the berth when the needle was out once more.

"You okay?" Wheeljack asked in a kind tone.

"I'm fine," she answered with a smile. "It just stung for a moment, that's all."

"That's fortunate," Perceptor said. "However, perhaps it is best that you remain lying down for a while."

"How come?" Faera asked.

"The solution that I injected in you along with the chip is a type of adhesive that hardens with heat," Perceptor explained. "Your core will provide the required heat for the chip to stay in place, but it will be a rather slow process."

"So if I stand up now, the chip might drop off," Faera said.

"You got it," Wheeljack replied.

"And how long do I have to stay like this?" the Sadjen asked.

"I'd suggest about half an Earth hour or so, in order to keep things on the safe side," Perceptor said.

"I guess I can live with that," Faera noted with a shrug. "But how will we know that the transmitter works?"

"That will be the fun part of it. When you get up, we'll--"

"Optimus Prime to Wheeljack. Wheeljack, do you read?"

The engineer activated his communication frequencies at once. "This is Wheeljack. I read you loud and clear, Optimus, and I even got some good news for you. Perceptor and I have just put the transmitter inside Faera."

"Good work, both of you. How's Faera?"

"She was a most excellent patient," Perceptor cut in. "We're currently taking a short break before proceeding any further."

"I see," Optimus replied. "However, I'm afraid I need to have a word with you in my office, Wheeljack. It can't wait."

Wheeljack was quite surprised at that, and he didn't even bother hiding it. "Okay, sure thing, Optimus. I'll be right there."

"Prowl and I will be waiting."

With that, the transmission ended. Frowning, Wheeljack also closed his communication frequencies, all the while trying to figure out what could be the meaning of it all.

"If both Prowl and Optimus are waiting for you, it must mean matters are quite serious indeed," Perceptor said.

"One of your companions, Bluestreak, told me that Optimus and Red Alert were attacked yesterday by a Decepticon called Soundwave," Faera said. "It could have to do with that."

"Oh no…" Perceptor said.

"That means I shouldn't stay here any longer," Wheeljack declared, already heading for the exit. "If I'm not back in half an hour, continue without me."

"Understood," Perceptor said. "I'll keep you informed."

"Thanks!" Wheeljack replied, and he stepped outside, the door closing behind him. He jogged down the hallway, not minding the curious glances he got from his fellow Autobots who were currently circulating in the Ark, and he reached Optimus's office in no time. He didn't even press the call button, aware that he was expected. He simply walked in, and saw that both the Autobot leader and the tactician were indeed waiting for him. Yet the thing that almost unnerved Wheeljack were the worn and troubled expressions the two officers were carrying. Apparently, things were _really _serious.

"Ah… Wheeljack," Optimus said, and he beckoned the engineer to sit down. "I apologise for calling you here at such short notice, but it couldn't be helped."

"Don't worry about it, Optimus," Wheeljack replied, taking a seat next to Prowl. "What seems to be the trouble?"

"Prowl?"

The tactician nodded, and he started telling his part of the story first. "Yesterday, at approximately 13:15 hours, Soundwave ambushed Optimus and Red Alert on their return trip to Base."

"Yeah, Faera mentioned that," Wheeljack said, casting a brief glance in Optimus's direction. Fortunately, there were no visible damages on the Autobot leader – not at first glance anyway.

Prowl raised an optic ridge. "Did she now?" he said. "But what she certainly didn't know was that Red Alert's memory databanks were hacked."

"What?!" Wheeljack exclaimed. "Is Red--?!"

"He's fine," Optimus replied. "He'll be able to take up his duties again after some proper rest at the medbay."

That was an encouraging though, Wheeljack had to admit. He sighed in relief.

"However, the problem remains," Prowl intervened, cutting into the engineer's train of thought. "We have reasons to believe that Megatron will make use of the information he had extracted from Red Alert, and attack the Boardman powerplants northwest of here. There's also a chance that he'll use Ebon in the particular attack."

"Whoo boy…" Wheeljack said, for he understood what Prowl was telling him. "Do we know when the Decepticons will attack?"

"Yes and no," Prowl answered.

Wheeljack blinked in confusion. "I don't follow."

"Knowing Megatron, he will plan his assault as soon as possible, but we can't figure out when that will be," Optimus explained. "That's why we need your help."

"What can I do?" Wheeljack asked.

Optimus opened his drawer and dug out from it a small datapad which he gave to the engineer. "One of Elita's spies managed to recover these blueprints of a machine the Decepticons intend to build here, on Earth. Megatron has already asked Shockwave for the necessary parts for it."

"Not only that, but Teletraan-I informed me personally, yesterday, that he picked up energy readings that showed the Decepticon spacebridge was being activated," Prowl added.

"So Megatron got the parts he wanted," Wheeljack noted in a musing tone, optics locked on the blueprints as he studied them meticulously. "Hmm…" He frowned, stared at the blueprints from up close, only to shake his head. "Nah, it can't be."

"What is it, Wheeljack?" Optimus asked, sitting up on his chair.

"These are the designs of some sort of energy magnet," the engineer answered. "But standard energy magnets normally have to be the size of buildings. This thing here is about the size of a small box."

"So it's portable," Prowl said.

"Yeah, but it doesn't have half the power of a regular energy magnet. In order for it to work properly, the source of energy would have to be really close or… attached to the machine." Wheeljack's optics widened, for it was in that moment that realisation caught up with him. "They want to keep Ebon's energy in check."

Prowl tilted his head at that. "This doesn't make much sense. Ebon is of more use to the Decepticons if he's able to use his energy."

"Not if there's a chance he might attempt to short-circuit them," Optimus said. "Megatron wouldn't want to leave that to chance."

Wheeljack nodded. "This thing here works in two phases. It first drains the subject of its excess energy and stores it in a small compartment here," he said, pointing at a small spot on the blueprints. "When a switch is activated here," he pointed to another place on the blueprints, "the excess energy is released and ready to be used accordingly."

"But that means Ebon can activate it as well if he puts his mind into it," Prowl said.

"Not if he can't reach it," Wheeljack replied. "Sadjens can only pass energy through their flesh-like areas of their exoskeleton, such as their hands."

"That means the activation switch will be placed on Ebon's back," Optimus said, catching on.

"You got that right," Wheeljack said. "There's still a catch, though."

"And that is?" the Autobot leader asked.

"This storage compartment is too small," Wheeljack said. "The machine can only drain a specific amount of energy before it reaches to a point that it will short-circuit."

"What you are saying is that the Decepticons will have to make sure the storage compartment never reaches its limit," Prowl said. "Like keep sending Ebon in battle against us in order to use up the stored energy."

"Or even place the stored energy in energon cubes," Wheeljack said. "A sip of a Sadjen's energy can be more invigorating than normal energon."

Both officers flinched, the idea of milking a Sadjen's energy in order to feed appalling them to no end. Truth be told, Wheeljack felt disgusted at that notion himself. It sounded too much like feeding from another creature's blood, like those vampire creatures Spike sometimes talked about.

"Do you think that machine will work?" Optimus asked at that point, cutting into Wheeljack's train of thought yet again.

"The Decepticons certainly believe it will," the engineer answered.

"I see…" the Autobot leader said softly. "And how long do you think it will take them to build it?"

"Let me think…" Wheeljack said, rubbing his chin in thought. "If I were to build it, it would take me about a day. It could take the Decepticons longer though."

"So we have one day at our disposal, at least," Optimus said. "Thank you, Wheeljack. You've been great help."

"Any time, Optimus," the engineer replied, and he stood up in order to walk out.

"Wheeljack?"

Wheeljack faced the Autobot leader once more. "Yeah, Optimus?"

"Don't tell Faera anything before I talk to her first."

Wheeljack nodded his understanding, then turned on his heel and walked out. He was sure Perceptor and Faera had left by now anyway, and it was time he started fixing the Ark's defence systems. He just wasn't sure how he would do that with his processor drifting to that energy magnet and its vile work.

----------------

Starscream walked into the medbay, sparing only a brief nod of greeting to Hook before approaching the only other form present in the room. Ebon, however, was pinned face down on one of the surgical tables, another set of electrum rods keeping him in place, and he didn't seem to notice what was going on around him. He certainly didn't react when Starscream poked the Sadjen with one of his null-rays.

"He's still unconscious, I see," the air commander noted.

"Yes," Hook said, casting a momentary glance at the alien creature. "Then again, Bonecrusher and Long Haul weren't gentle in their… treatment."

"I don't care what those two did, as long as it had results," Starscream said, waving his hand dismissively.

"You _should _care," Hook replied coolly. "If that thing wakes up before I finish with the energy magnet you were supposed to help me build, we'll be done for."

"But I _am _helping you," Starscream replied, as if he was offended by that kind of accusation. "I suggested those modifications, didn't I?"

Hook curled his upper lip component in distaste. "Making my creation fouler in the process."

"Do you want your creation pretty or able to stop the Sadjen from terminating us?" Starscream argued, and he leaned forward to get a closer look at the energy magnet. "Did you add them?"

Hook turned over the magnet and pointed at the plating. Sure enough, Starscream saw three large thorn-like spikes standing out quite prominently, all of them so sharp that they could pierce anything that was placed on them.

"Are you sure these things will work?" Hook asked.

"Did you follow my instructions?" Starscream answered with a question of his own.

"I did, but--"

"Then they will work," Starscream cut in. "So you shouldn't complain… if you really don't want our slave to wake up before you finish with your work."

Hook grunted, nevertheless he focused on the magnet once more. Feeling quite satisfied with himself, Starscream turned towards the unconscious Sadjen again, fixing his optics on the creature's back. He rubbed his chin in thought as he scrutinised the gravely joints and back ridge, trying to decide just where he should attach the magnet; it would have to be a spot that wouldn't burden the Sadjen's movements, after all. Humming softly, he traced the black surface with curious fingers, only to stop on the area between Ebon's shoulders.

_Perfect, _he thought, a cruel smile forming on his lip components.

* * *

"You look troubled," Optimus noted, looking at Prowl. Indeed, the tactician's optics were dimmed slightly, and he was absentmindedly tapping his fingers on Optimus's desk.

"Merely contemplating on the situation," Prowl corrected, optics finally locking on the Autobot leader. "If Megatron intends to use Ebon on his next attack, then we'll have to dispatch Faera as well."

"Indeed," Optimus said, seeing what the problem was. "You think it's too soon."

"She has yet to work with the other Autobots as a team," Prowl pointed out. "Worse, she knows next to nothing about Autobot battle protocol."

"She knows about Ebon, and that should be enough for now," Optimus replied. "She won't go into battle, unless _he's _in it too."

"Very well," Prowl said with a nod, and he turned off the datapad in his hands. "I'll prepare the battle plan right away."

"Good. Thank you, Prowl."

Prowl smiled a bit and stood up, heading for the exit. However, he stopped on his tracks at the last moment, his door panels standing rigidly behind his back.

"Is something wrong?" Optimus asked, noticing the tactician's unease.

Prowl didn't answer at once. When he did though, he looked at Optimus straight in the optic.

"Were Smokescreen's conclusions correct?"

Optimus cringed mentally. He had already told Prowl about the files Soundwave had downloaded from Red Alert's databanks, so he probably should have seen that question coming. Still, he knew he couldn't lie to his second-in-command.

"Yes," he answered.

Prowl pursed his lip components in thought. "And yet she's willing to fight him now?"

"She doesn't want the Decepticons to use Ebon for their purposes any more than we do," Optimus answered truthfully. "Ebon's actions have already led to the demise of her home-planet; she doesn't want such a thing to happen again."

Prowl nodded his understanding. Even so, his features were still clouded in a frown.

"Perhaps she ought to hate him," he said. "It would make things easier for her now."

Optimus frowned at those words, puzzled at that statement.

"You still have to tell her about that energy magnet," Prowl explained.

With that, the tactician finally walked out, leaving Optimus alone with his thoughts. For the Autobot leader knew that Prowl was right. If Faera found out what the Decepticons did to her fellow Sadjen, she would be abhorred for certain. But Prowl didn't know what Optimus did. Otherwise, he would have realised that Faera wouldn't be _just _abhorred.

And yet, Optimus couldn't hide the truth from her. If he betrayed her trust, she wouldn't shut herself out only from him, but from the other Autobots as well. And besides all that… she was part of his ranks now. That meant she was his responsibility, just like the other Autobots were. So he wouldn't treat her any differently.

That was why he was prepared to offer his support as soon as he talked to her.

_TBC…_


	10. The Limits Of Courage

When Perceptor had first arrived on Earth, he had chosen the microscope as his alternate mode because he had intended to study the organic life forms of planet Earth. However, he had forgotten in his enthusiasm that he couldn't travel the same way his fellow Autobots did while in that particular mode. His cannon mode wasn't all that helpful in that department either, since the only Autobot who didn't overtake him while in motion was Blaster. That was why he preferred to have a ride while venturing far away from the Ark. Skyfire and Wheeljack especially always offered their friend a lift, aware of how much it meant to Perceptor.

Today wasn't one of those days though. Faera didn't seem to mind walking, so both Autobot and Sadjen were currently on foot, heading towards a clearing a little further away from the base. She kept her hands behind her back in a carefree manner, and her gaze kept drifting at her surroundings whenever she heard or smelled something of interest. Perceptor couldn't help but watch the Sadjen, wondering what was in her mind as she tilted her head or stopped on her tracks, her nostrils twitching subtly.

"This planet is quite amazing," she said with a smile, as if she read his thoughts. "Just when I think I've learned all there is to know about it, I discover some new scent or sound that makes me feel as ignorant as on the first day I landed here."

Perceptor smiled at that statement. "Yes, I believe I know what you mean. Earth holds many secrets, awaiting someone to discover them," he said, his fingers running absentmindedly through the foliage of an evergreen tree. "It's also one of the reasons that we wish to protect Earth from the Decepticons' greed."

"I understand," the Sadjen said, nodding. Even so, Perceptor noticed that she was regarding him with a strange look in her eyes.

"Is something the matter?" Perceptor asked in an encouraging tone, hoping that Faera would open up to him.

Faera considered matters for a moment. "I've noticed something about you guys," she said.

"Oh?" Perceptor had to admit that he was quite intrigued now. "What exactly?"

"None of you are really soldiers."

Ah. So that was the problem.

"No, we aren't. We all had different professions before the war broke out," Perceptor said. "I used to work with Beachcomber in a lab facility in Altihex, and Wheeljack was an engineer back in Iacon."

"What about Bumblebee? And Prime?" Faera asked.

"Bumblebee, I believe, worked with Brawn and Cliffjumper in an energon distillery," Perceptor replied, "Whereas Prime worked at the docks of Iacon."

"The Twins? Ironhide? The others?"

Seeing the genuine curiosity on the Sadjen's features, Perceptor decided to indulge her, so he told her as much about his fellow Autobots' background as he was personally aware of. Faera listened to him carefully, gathering all the information like an eager student, something that didn't escape the scientist's attention. In fact, if he didn't know any better, he'd think that Faera didn't even know what sort of jobs they were. Tilting his head, he regarded her curiously.

"Pardon my asking, but… wasn't there anyone among your kind who busied himself with science or arts?"

Faera shook her head. "We were trained for one thing only, and that was to fight."

"Oh… I see…" Perceptor replied.

She smiled a bit. "We weren't driven by some kind of lust for battle, if that's what you're thinking," she said. "It was just the best way to defend our home, since we were almost constantly at war."

"With the Merkeesans?" Perceptor asked, remembering the name Faera had mentioned before.

"Among others," Faera replied. "Our planet was small and didn't offer much, but it was important strategically speaking. Sherba was at the border of several solar systems. Whoever controlled us also had easy access to the other planets, either for business or to attack from."

Perceptor frowned. "So, when those Sadjens rebelled against your Order… they meant to take over and exploit that kind of advantage themselves?"

She nodded.

"Oh dear…"

"You said it," she said with a sigh, and she looked ahead once more. "That's the clearing, isn't it?"

Perceptor blinked and looked in the same direction, only to see that Faera was right.

"Hmm… Yes," he said thoughtfully. "However, it seems that we're the first to arrive here."

"First?" Faera echoed, perplexed. "Are we waiting for someone else?"

The words barely flowed out of her lips when she tilted her head again, obviously hearing something. Perceptor tuned up his audios, and he smiled as he caught the sound of a car-engine. A few minutes later, a small car appeared from the other side of the clearing, approaching Perceptor and Faera at top speed. Warily, Faera brought herself in front of Perceptor, ready to change into her animal form, but the scientist stopped her with a reassuring pat on her shoulder.

"There's no cause for an alarm. He's a friend."

Sure enough, the car braked and transformed, revealing himself as Windcharger.

"Thank you for coming at such short notice," Perceptor said, waving the red and grey minibot in greeting.

"No problem. You've just saved me from several hours of maintenance duty," Windcharger replied, grinning broadly. He cast a brief, friendly glance in Faera's direction, then faced Perceptor once more. "So what's this assignment you've got for me?"

"It's quite simple really," the scientist replied. "We're going to test the radio transmitter on Faera, and we'll require an Autobot with your velocity in case of an unfortunate error."

"Which means?"

"Well, um… basically, you might have to retrieve Faera in case she wanders out of the radio signal's range."

"Like some robo-dog herding back home the sheepbots, huh?" the minibot said, amused.

Faera raised an eyebrow in puzzlement, missing the joke entirely. Perceptor, on the other hand, chuckled in embarrassment.

"That's the gist of the idea, though I'd probably not put it that way," he said. He clasped his hands and rubbed them together, as if declaring it was time to start talking business. "Shall we proceed then?"

"Sure thing," Windcharger said with a shrug.

"Faera?"

"I guess so," she said, shrugging as well. "Should I change to my battle raiment?"

"Of course. We've put it off long enough," the scientist said, a small smile tugging on his lip components.

That was all the reassurance the Sadjen needed. At the next moment, she was in her animal form, regarding both Autobots with intelligent yellow eyes, her ears upright on her head in an expectant manner.

"Okay… Now what?" Windcharger asked curiously.

It was then that a soft chuckle emanated from the Autobots' transmitters, startling them.

"My apologies. I thought you'd address me first," an unfamiliar voice filled the air.

Windcharger stared at Faera incredulously. Perceptor, however, leaned forward and examined the panther-esque creature from up close with a smile. He had just got his first proof that the mechanism was actually working.

"You seem pleased," Faera noted, a tilt of her head accompanying her words.

"I am," Perceptor replied truthfully. "Are you in any discomfort?"

"No," she answered. "It feels strange communicating like this, but I'll get used to it."

Windcharger checked himself, confused, then turned to the scientist as realisation caught up with him. "Is this link supposed to be at the secret frequency?"

"Actually, it's a frequency similar to the secret one. We couldn't program the standard one with the circuitry we had, but this works nicely enough." Perceptor said, still keeping his optics locked on Faera's chest-ridge. "And, all it takes for Faera to switch to the secret one is put her mind into it… sort of speak."

"It's still a low one," the minibot pointed out, "It can only work at short distances, right?"

"Ah, but that's not all there's to things," Perceptor said, standing up. "Wheeljack has built a signal-enhancer inside Faera's chip. If we're fortunate enough, this will enable Faera to communicate with us even from afar."

"And it'll work?" Windcharger asked, raising an optic ridge.

"There's only way to find out," Perceptor replied, and he turned to the Sadjen. "You may set off at your leisure, Faera."

"Alright," the synthesized voice said as Faera stood up. "Stay in touch."

With that, Faera sprinted away and, moments later, all the two Autobots could see was a small black speck on the horizon. Deeming that it was time to try out the transmitter, Perceptor opened his communication frequencies.

"Faera, this is Perceptor. Do you read?"

There was a small pause before Faera finally answered. "If you mean whether I can hear you, the answer is yes."

"Ah, of course," Perceptor said, realising his mistake. "I apologise, I'll keep any sort of jargon to a minimum."

"Don't worry about it; it's best I know anyway."

Perceptor smiled; she really was like an eager student. "Can you describe your surroundings for me, please?"

"Hold on," she said, and Perceptor was certain that the Sadjen was looking around. "There isn't much to see. The place is barren, except for a small patch of trees on my left. Pine trees, by the smell of it."

"Anything else?"

"Not really, no; it's actually pretty quiet. I'm going to investigate… "

Perceptor and Windcharger became quite alarmed when Faera's voice was suddenly cut off.

"Faera? Can you hear me?" Perceptor asked, and waited for a few moments in the hopes that she would reply. Nothing happened, though. "Faera?"

"Do you think there's something wrong with her transmitter?" Windcharger asked.

"I don't know," the scientist answered, then activated his communication frequencies again. "Faera, can you hear me?"

- Perceptor? - Faera's synthesized voice answered.

_Thank Primus._ Perceptor thought, relieved. Still, the fact that she used the secret frequency wasn't a good sign at all. "Is something amiss?"

- Are there supposed to be any other Autobots in the area? -

Perceptor and Windcharger exchanged a look.

"Actually, no. It's just the two of us," the scientist answered. "Why?"

- Then I smell Decepticons. -

"Oh no…" Perceptor breathed out.

"Faera, stay where you are. We're coming over," Windcharger transmitted, and transformed to his car mode. "Hop on, Perceptor!"

Perceptor did just that, holding tightly on the minibot's roof. As soon as he settled securely, Windcharger sped off in the direction Faera went. The Sadjen herself was standing close to a small rocky hill, her posture rigid and her ears flat on her head. She hardly moved even when the Autobots closed in on her, a mere twitch of her tail indicating that she had acknowledged their presence.

Perceptor scrambled down from Windcharger, who transformed quietly and knelt beside Faera.

- Got any idea where they could be? - he asked over the secret frequency, optics darting in every direction.

- The wind was blowing northeast when I picked up the scent; they must be behind there, - Faera answered, head nodding to her right.

Windcharger and Perceptor looked discreetly in the same direction, seeing that there was indeed a natural covering of rocks that could serve as a hiding spot for any spy. Perceptor walked slowly towards the minibot and tapped him lightly on the shoulder, in a seemingly casual way.

- This falls into your line of work, I believe, - the scientist transmitted.

Windcharger grinned. - It certainly does. –

Faera regarded the Autobots curiously, a low rumbling sound tilted in a question emanating from her throat. - What are you talking about? -

- Observe. It will be quite interesting, I assure you, - Perceptor said with a soft chuckle.

Faera looked at Windcharger, still uncertain. Windcharger just stretched his arms forward, visible blue surges of power coursing through his fingers, and the Sadjen's eyes widened slightly at the sound of multiple yelps of surprise and a hiss of dismay. At the next moment, three identical mechs and a panther-esque animal appeared hovering in the air, trapped by Windcharger's magnetic power. They struggled, they cursed, but it was impossible to break the field.

"Faera," Perceptor declared, "I would like you to meet Reflector and Ravage, although they can be quite the unpleasant acquaintances."

The Sadjen tilted her head, puzzled. "There are four of them."

"Well, Reflector has a tendency to consider himself as one single unit. In fact, I doubt they even remember their individual names by now," Perceptor said.

Faera blinked. "I see."

"Yeah, that's the Decepticons for you," Windcharger said, his optics never leaving his captives. "Alright, Reflector, start talking. What are you and Ravage doing here?"

"If you're so clever, Autobot, figure it out," all three mechs answered as one.

"Then allow me to rephrase my friend's question," Perceptor said, taking a step forward. "Why are you spying on us?"

Reflector didn't answer. Ravage, meanwhile, kept hissing at all three companions, obviously warning them to stay back.

"It's in your best interests if you talked," Perceptor tried again. "Once you tell us the truth, we'll let you leave unharmed."

"We'd rather just leave," Reflector answered, and they exposed their lenses on their chests. Before either of the Autobots or Faera could react, a great flash of light hit them directly on their faces, blinding them. Stunned, Windcharger dropped his magnetic field, so the Decepticons saw their chance to make their escape. Grabbing Ravage, they flew away as fast as they could, leaving their enemies behind. As far as they were concerned, their mission was now over.

Perceptor shook his head and rebooted his optics, relieved to realise that he couldn't detect any permanent damage on the particular circuitry; then turned to Windcharger and Faera.

"Are you both all right?" he asked.

"I'm fine," Windcharger replied, rebooting his optics as well.

"Hold on… I need to change back," Faera said, the discomfort visible on her features. Another, much more bearable flash of light later, Faera was back into her humanoid form and rubbing her eyes. Worried, Perceptor hurried at her side, but she waved her hand dismissively.

"It's passing," she assured him before clenching her jaw in evident indignation. "That was one cheap shot."

"Heh… If you stick around long enough, you'll get used to it," Windcharger said, patting her shoulder. "We all have."

"That's good to know, I guess," she answered. "Should we follow them?"

"No. What's done is done," Perceptor said. "Besides, we should return to the Ark and inform Optimus about the good news."

"Which is?" Faera asked.

"That your transmitter operates smoothly, of course," the scientist replied, smiling.

"Oh, right… I knew that…" the Sadjen replied, scratching her head in an embarrassed manner.

* * *

Optimus paced up and down outside the Ark, waiting for Perceptor, Windcharger and Faera to return. Since it wouldn't take long to test the efficiency of the transmitter, the Autobot leader decided that it would be best if he learned the news first hand. Besides, he also figured that it was high time he talked to Faera about the magnet. If they talked outside the Base, none of the Autobots would overhear their conversation and so they would avoid more complications such as the one with Red Alert.

It didn't make him feel any less uneasy, though. Worse, he couldn't help but wince inwardly when he finally saw Perceptor, Windcharger and Faera approaching. All three seemed in a good mood, and Windcharger was especially talkative, sharing a couple of his favourite jokes with the Sadjen.

"I take it the transmitter works?" Optimus asked, welcoming the newcomers.

"Indeed," Perceptor answered, very pleased. "And more importantly, it can operate in long distances, just as we had hoped for."

"So there were no problems," Optimus insisted.

"None whatsoever. We could hear her loud and clear the whole time," Windcharger said. "We only had one problem, and that was more or less taken care of."

"Good," Optimus said. "Prowl is inside, you can hand in your report as soon as you're finished with it."

"Of course," Perceptor said with a nod, and he walked into the base, Windcharger close on his heels. Faera was about to follow as well, but Optimus gestured at her in a discreet manner that she should stay put.

Understanding, Faera stopped on her tracks. She seemed relaxed, but her eyes locked on him as if she suspected that something was wrong.

"How does the transmitter feel?" Optimus asked.

He was stalling, he knew he was. But he honestly wanted to find a way to tell her his news.

"Like it's not even there," Faera replied, tapping her chest-ridge. "Wheeljack and Perceptor did a good job."

Optimus nodded. "That's good to hear."

Silence followed, and Optimus caught himself unsure as to how to proceed. Faera, however, got him out of the difficult situation he was in.

"You've found out something about Ebon, haven't you?"

Her tone was soft, and Optimus sensed the subtle pleading in her words. He sighed, aware that there was no turning back now, and he beckoned her.

"Walk with me."

Faera complied, her expression steeling as she braced herself for the worst.

* * *

Jazz walked inside Prowl's office, not in the least surprised to see the tactician at his desk and his optics locked on a small datapad. Despite his seemingly deep concentration, however, Prowl beckoned the saboteur closer, and even motioned his hand to a seat nearby.

Understanding, Jazz sat down, crossing his legs in a seemingly relaxed manner. In fact, he kept staring at his friend, hoping that he'd be able to detect in the usually stoic mech's expression any clue as to why Prowl asked him to come here. He couldn't see anything though. Prowl's jaw was set, his features positively neutral and perfectly unreadable. Still, Jazz knew what that meant. Prowl had called him over military matters.

"You already suspect why you're here," Prowl said, optics never leaving the datapad. Nevertheless, his features softened.

Jazz smirked and hummed in affirmation. "So how about you skip the basics and tell me the fancy details?" he asked with a tease.

Prowl nodded and handed the datapad to Jazz. "Here's the battle plan. Have a look at it and tell me what you think."

Jazz did, optics scanning all the flashing dots that specified where each Autobot would be in the battle that was going to take place at the plants. That was always how the two of them worked. Prowl would suggest the plan, and Jazz would see if there were any snags to said plan. Not when it came to tactics though; strategically speaking, Prowl's plans were never flawed. But Jazz provided further insight because of his ingenuity. For even though Prowl was the best when it came to logic and odds, he also lacked resourcefulness, something that the tactician was painfully aware of.

In a way, that was one of the things that cemented their friendship. Prowl was the voice of reason that stopped Jazz from acting too rashly, while Jazz was the voice of the spark that allowed Prowl to have more faith in himself rather than cold-blooded statistics. Jazz smiled inwardly at that thought.

"Well?" Prowl asked, raising an optic ridge.

Right. Prowl was also the mech that always brought Jazz back to the matter at hand. Dismissing his previous train of thought, the saboteur focused on the datapad once more. At first glance, everything seemed to be in order. But, as Jazz looked closer, he noticed that there was something missing from the battle plan.

"You haven't placed Faera anywhere," he said. "Won't this be her best shot to prove her worth?"

"It will. But Optimus thought it would be proper if she didn't fight unless Ebon appears; we can handle the Decepticons on our own, after all," Prowl replied. "Besides, I need to hear from Perceptor concerning her transmitter as well."

"Oh, I think the news is good in that department," Jazz said with a grin. "I saw Perceptor on my way here, and he was hummin' softly to himself."

Prowl chuckled a bit. "Yes, I suppose it is good news then," he said. "Was Faera with him?"

"Didn't see her."

"Ah." Prowl's optics dimmed slightly in contemplation. "That probably means Prime has already gone to talk to her."

"About?" Jazz asked.

Prowl, however, waved his hand dismissively. "All in due time. Let's focus on the plan first."

Jazz raised an optic ridge. He hated it when Prowl went all secretive on him, but he supposed it couldn't be helped. Prowl was probably thinking that it wasn't his business to talk about certain matters before getting Optimus's permission, and Jazz intended to respect that. So, after letting a small sigh of resignation, he continued examining the datapad. He had the feeling that he would find out soon, anyway.

* * *

Optimus still watched Faera, all sorts of thoughts filling his mind. In all the years that he had been leader of the Autobots, there was only one kind of situation that was the most difficult to handle, and that was a friend's distress. For Optimus told Faera everything about the energy magnet, including how the Decepticons intended to use it on Ebon. She listened to him with a calm expression, but the Autobot leader noticed how tightly she hugged herself, her hands digging at her sides as she kept her emotions in check.

"Will that machine work?" she asked, her voice sounding painfully strained.

Optimus winced. He wanted to give her some sort of hope, but he knew it wouldn't be fair to her. Lying wasn't an option.

"If it does, we'll find out tomorrow," he answered.

She bowed her head, eyes reflecting her defeat. "Yes, I suppose we will."

"Will you be able to fight?" Optimus asked quietly. He hated himself for asking that, but he needed to know if she was still with them under these circumstances.

She nodded.

"Are you sure?" Optimus insisted. "Ebon is still--"

"Yes, he is," she replied, aware of what Optimus was going to say. "But he's also the enemy." Her lips tugged to a bitter smile. "Everything that you suspected would happen, happened. So I will do what I must, as promised."

"Faera…" Optimus placed a hand on her shoulder, hoping to make her understand. "You've already done everything you could. You offered him more than enough chances to see reason and he chose to disregard all of them."

"And his choices keep shaming me," she murmured. She averted her gaze, looking in the direction of the Ark. "May I go?"

Optimus didn't deny her; he realised that she needed some time alone. Nodding, he drew his hand back, and he watched her as she turned on her heel. Surprisingly enough, however, she stopped in her tracks and faced him once more.

"Optimus… I have a confession to make."

Optimus blinked, taken aback at those words. "I'm listening," he said.

"When Perceptor told me about your past, I was confused. I couldn't understand why you and the other Autobots decided to fight when you were never meant to be soldiers in the first place," she replied. "But I think I know now. You're fighting, taking heart in the hope that one day you can reclaim the life you had to forsake because of war."

Optimus nodded, prodding her to continue. He was glad that she understood their cause, but he still wasn't sure where she was going with this.

She smiled, for real this time, in spite of the sadness reflected in her eyes. "That's why I can't help but envy you. Your courage was never set by laws, the way mine was. That alone makes you far braver than I will ever be."

And with that she was gone, her steps barely making a sound as she headed toward the Ark. Optimus stretched his hand to stop her so that she'd listen to what he had to say, but it was too late. He only whispered his answer instead, even though he knew she wouldn't hear him.

"Perhaps we are… But what kind of courage does it take to do the right thing when your very heart is against it?"

_TBC…_


	11. The Calm Before The Storm

The corridors of the Ark were all but empty; Red Alert was aware of that as he still walked on, his footsteps clanking softly. It was almost dawn, after all, and it would be two hours more before most of the Autobots would come online to take up their duties once again. In fact, even Red Alert was supposed to be recharging, but he had to sneak away without alarming Inferno. The fire-truck had made it his personal charge to make sure that Red Alert had plenty of rest, even if it meant keeping him locked in the room they shared at all hours.

Red Alert was sure that Ratchet had something to do with that. The medic had also insisted that Red Alert should take it easy, so he relieved him from his duties for a whole day. He reasoned that Red Alert's cranial circuitry had taken quite the strain under Soundwave's mind probe, which meant he shouldn't push himself too much or too soon.

Red Alert heaved a sigh. Ever since the Negavator incident, everyone kept treating him like some fragile thing, ready to crack under the merest pressure. He didn't blame them for being concerned, by all means. He _had_ given his companions quite the scare when he malfunctioned like that, and no one wanted such a thing happen again. But what none of them seemed to understand was that Red Alert couldn't afford to take it easy or relax. There was a war going on, and he had to do his job just like everyone else.

Red Alert stepped to the balcony across the volcano, his optics instantly locking on Faera's form. He wasn't surprised when he saw the Sadjen boldly sitting on her make-shift lodgings, regarding him quite curiously.

"Your footsteps are unfamiliar, yet your face isn't," she noted, tilting her head a bit. "Have we met?"

"Not officially," Red Alert answered truthfully. "My name's Red Alert. I'm the security chief in the Ark."

"I remember the name," Faera said, eyes reflecting her realisation. "Have your wounds healed?"

Red Alert blinked. He hadn't expected her to know about his injury, or even show concern about his welfare for that matter. "Yes, Ratchet has fixed them," he answered. "But that's not what I came here for."

"I thought as much," Faera said, and leapt forward. Red Alert flinched at that motion, but she only landed gracefully at his side. "So why are you here?"

Red Alert caught himself clearing his vocaliser, more out of embarrassment than anything else. "Well, as you've probably been informed, the base is on yellow alert."

"Yellow alert?" she echoed, puzzled; she soon caught on though. "You mean you're ready for battle."

"Yes, exactly," Red Alert said. "You know how the situation stands then."

She nodded. "What am I to do?"

Red Alert took out of subspace a datapad, switched it on and handed it to the Sadjen. "This is the battle plan Prowl suggested. Please have a look at it and tell me your thoughts about it."

Faera raised an eyebrow as she took the datapad in her hands. "Is this typical procedure?"

"Not really, no," Red Alert answered. "Then again, we're familiar with each Autobot's capabilities within these ranks, so we know what position they can fill best."

"Unlike in my case," Faera noted thoughtfully. "I believed those tests I had to take would provide you with some insight."

"They would; but we don't have that kind of luxury anymore. So, if you please…" Red Alert said, and pointed at the datapad.

Understanding, Faera looked at the battle plan for several minutes with quite the scrutiny. Red Alert watched the Sadjen as she read the whole thing calmly, a soft glow in her eyes while her gaze drifted on every line and page that was revealed before her; until she looked up at him again and nodded.

"Done."

Red Alert regarded Faera in a dubious manner. "Already?"

She seemed quite confused at that question. "Well… yes," she answered uncertainly.

Red Alert wasn't convinced. "And you have no questions?"

"None."

The security chief wished that he could just take Faera's word for it. "Could you check it again?"

She tilted her head, then shrugged. "All right," she said, and she read through the battle plan again. At least, Red Alert hoped she did; she looked as if she just skimmed through the text.

"Done," she said once more.

Red Alert wrung his hands nervously. She had read the datapad again too quickly for his comfort, but he wasn't sure if telling her to read it a third time was such a good idea. So, he decided to compromise things somehow.

"Have you read _everything?_"

She stared at him blankly. "Read?" she echoed.

Red Alert felt like his logic circuits were about to get fried for real this time, but she explained herself more clearly.

"Most information that we give or take is done from our fingertips. From the moment you gave me that datapad, all I had to do is activate it to pass the information from my hands to my core."

"So… you basically downloaded the information?" Red Alert asked.

"You can say that," she replied, and smiled knowingly. "That means repeating the procedure is redundant."

"I see," Red Alert said. "That's good to know." As a matter of fact, the security chief felt quite relieved, but he would never say that out loud. "Thank you for your time," he added, and took the datapad from Faera's hands.

"May I speak freely?" she asked at that moment.

Red Alert was surprised at that, nevertheless he nodded. "Go ahead."

"Why did you come down here to see me, instead of calling me to your office as it's expected from a superior officer?" Faera asked. "I doubt you didn't know that my transmitter works."

Red Alert raised an optic ridge. "I didn't consider it proper to give orders to a guest."

"This guest is also an Autobot recruit and a former soldier amid the Sadjen ranks. If there's anything that she knows well, is to follow orders," Faera pointed out. "So… may I inquire as to the real reason you came here?"

Red Alert didn't want to admit it, but he actually felt caught. Apparently, Faera had quite the shrewd mind, so the least she deserved was a frank answer.

"Handing you the battle plan was _one _of the reasons."

She nodded her understanding. "What was the other reason?"

Red Alert pursed his lip components momentarily, fingers drumming lightly the datapad in an absentminded manner. "This won't be easy for me to say."

"I'm still willing to listen," she said, eyes locked on him expectantly.

"All right," Red Alert crossed his arms, optics locked on Faera's gaze. "When you first came along, I really didn't know what to make of you. Sure, Prime said that you are a Sadjen and that you decided to join the Autobots but, other than that, you were a complete stranger. And… I was wary of you."

"And now you're not?" Faera asked.

Red Alert smiled wryly. "I still am. But a friend said that all it takes to trust someone is time and a few steps of good faith. After watching you, you've given me reasons to afford that time and those steps. So you'd better not prove me wrong."

"I don't intend to," she replied sincerely.

"Good." Red Alert said, and he patted her once on the shoulder before heading towards the interior of the Ark. At the last moment, however, he stopped in his tracks and looked at the Sadjen. "Oh, one more thing."

"Yes?" Faera said, regarding him curiously.

"Please don't activate the locks on your own. I don't think I'd be able to handle that."

Faera chuckled, seeing through Red Alert's tease, however mild it was. "Yes, sir."

Just as Red Alert was about to smile, accepting Faera's answer, a familiar voice rang through the corridor and made the security chief wince.

"Red!"

Faera looked down the corridor, then at Red Alert. "Friend of yours?" she asked.

"A mother hen, more like," Red Alert answered with a sigh. "Excuse me."

"Of course," she replied.

With that, Red Alert went down the corridor to the direction of Inferno's voice. Sure enough, the fire-truck was walking down the same corridor, optics drifting every which way in search of Red Alert. Red Alert didn't miss the expression of relief in his friend's features as soon as he caught sight of the security chief.

"Finally," Inferno said. "Where have ya been? I tried to contact ya, but yer transmitter was offline."

"Yes, I know. I wanted to settle some matters uninterrupted before taking up my duties again," Red Alert answered, waving his hand dismissively.

Inferno frowned slightly, and looked to the end of the corridor. Red Alert turned around as well, seeing what had caught Inferno's attention: Faera's retreating form.

"I see," Inferno said. He shook his head and poked his friend on the chest. "Ya could have told me, ya know."

Red Alert pinched the bridge of his nose. "I wanted to talk to her alone, Inferno."

"Yeah, I bet. I wouldn't want to feel someone breathin' down my neck when I'm talkin' to a lady either," Inferno said, grinning.

Red Alert snapped his head around and stared at his friend incredulously. Did Inferno just suggest…?

"My visit to her was strictly business!" Red Alert said, quite indignant. "I wanted to inform her about the battle plan!"

"You could've just called her to yer office," Inferno pointed out, his grin broadening. "Her transmitter works."

"Yes, I know, I just wanted… I mean…" Red Alert faltered, torn between telling the truth to Inferno and his wish to keep his conversation with Faera private.

Inferno, however, laughed out loud and clapped his friend on the shoulder.

"Relax, Red. I'm only messin' with ya," he said amid his laughing fits.

Red Alert groaned and cuffed the fire-truck on the arm. "Blast it, Inferno. That wasn't funny!"

"Well, consider it a lesson for goin' all secretive on me," Inferno said, winking. "I know you don't like being smothered, Red; but you have to remember I'm also yer partner and yer friend, okay? Have a little more faith in me."

Inferno had a point; Red Alert realised that. He probably had Inferno worried with that kind of disappearing act too, and the security chief couldn't help but feel slightly guilty now.

"Point taken. Sorry, Inferno."

"Nah, it's fine," the fire-truck said cheerfully. "Now, c'mon, we should head to our posts."

"Have Jazz and the others left?" Red Alert asked curiously.

"Yup. They should arrive at the plants soon," Inferno answered, and the two of them headed to the control room.

* * *

Jazz drove up a small hill to his left, then transformed so he could take a look at the horizon ahead. The sky was filled with clouds, practically covering the world in moody colours; yet the saboteur still managed to locate what he had been looking for: the coal-fired power plant just outside of Boardman. Smiling a bit, Jazz opened his communication frequencies to see how his other companions fared.

"Jazz to Mirage and Bumblebee. Do you read, guys?"

"Yes," Mirage answered from the other side of the link. "I've just got in position."

"Same here," Bumblebee replied. "And I'm glad to say that there are no Decepticons in sight."

"Things can change, Bumblebee," Jazz pointed out. "We should still keep a lookout on things."

"How can Prime be so sure that the Decepticons are going to attack today?" Mirage asked.

"He's not," Jazz admitted. "But Prime knows how Megatron thinks, and his instincts were never wrong before."

"Yeah, unfortunately," Mirage murmured wryly.

Jazz chuckled, for he had heard the Ligier only too clearly. "I know what you mean, man. But don't worry. We always kick the bad guys' cabooses in the end, and this time won't be an exception. Trust me."

"Speaking of which, did you guys hear about Ravage and Reflector?" Bumblebee asked at that moment.

"It would be hard not to, buddy; the entire Ark was buzzing about it," Jazz answered. "And I don't think I have to guess who they were spying on. It looks like Megatron has taken an interest in the lady of the house."

"That's strange. Why do you think he's after her when he has Ebon?" Mirage asked.

"Beats me," Jazz said. "I don't think he's happy that she joined us, though."

"But we won't let him hurt her, right?" Bumblebee said, his concern quite audible in his voice.

"Of course not, Bumblebee," Jazz said reassuringly. "She's a friend."

"Besides, she seems able to take care of herself just fine," Mirage added. "You shouldn't worry about her."

"I know, but…" Bumblebee fell silent.

"Hey, what's the matter?" Jazz asked; he realised that there was something troubling the minibot, but he couldn't imagine what it could be.

"Well, I… uh… I saw her last night, while I was heading to the common room," Bumblebee said. "I'm not sure, but the way she walked and looked straight ahead… I think she was upset over something."

"Did you talk to her?" Jazz asked.

"I did. I even suggested to her to join me to the common room; I figured she should have some company, at least," Bumblebee answered. "She just smiled in an apologetic way and said she'd take up on my offer some other time."

Jazz heard the slightly hurt tone in Bumblebee's voice. It was obvious the minibot had hoped Faera would have been more open to him.

"Hey," he said, wishing to sound encouraging. "If she said that, she most probably will. If there's something I got to learn from her these past few days she's been with us, is that she's a woman of her word. She'll come to talk to you when she feels ready."

Bumblebee didn't speak at once, taking in what the saboteur said. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I just… want her to feel welcome, you know?"

"Yeah, I do, Bumblebee," Jazz said, understanding. "Now, hush, we should get back to work."

Bumblebee remembered himself. "Yes, Sir. Bumblebee out."

"Jazz out," the saboteur said, and he ended his transmission. However, he still stayed in contact with Mirage, something that the Ligier noticed.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

"Nah. Just wondering," Jazz replied.

"About what?" Mirage asked curiously.

"Who does Faera's behaviour remind me of."

There was a mild huff from the other end of the link, and Jazz smiled inwardly. "I wasn't that bad."

_True. You were worse. _Jazz decided against saying that out loud, though. "Only because Hound got you out of your shell."

"You mean _tricked _me out of it," the Ligier pointed out in indignation.

"You're still glad that he did though, right?" Jazz replied.

Mirage didn't answer, which meant one thing: he agreed with Jazz, but the Pit would freeze over before ever admitting such a thing.

"Bumblebee is making a mistake, you know," Mirage said at that moment.

"What do you mean?" Jazz asked.

"He's becoming too attached to her."

"And you think he shouldn't?" the saboteur asked, raising an optic ridge. "I meant it when I said Faera is a friend."

"But for how long?" Mirage said. "Yes, she's joined the Autobots; but only because of Ebon. Once he's out of the picture, she won't have any other reasons to stay in the Ark anymore. She doesn't share the dream of a restored Cybertron like the rest of us."

"No?" Jazz said thoughtfully. "You never know, Mirage. Maybe she'll find more reasons to stay with us as the time passes by."

"I doubt that," Mirage said.

Jazz shook his head at the spy's pessimism. "We'll just have to wait and see then, man."

With that, both Autobots let the matter rest. Time would tell which of the two was right.

-------------------

Optimus crossed the small clearing, where his strike team hid in waiting, and let his gaze drift to the horizon to take in the sight of the setting sun that was unfolded before him. Though he had already been here for three years on planet Earth, there were still a lot of things that he never grew tired of watching. If anything, it gave him one more reason to fight Megatron and stop the destruction the Decepticon leader spread on his path.

Speaking of which… he supposed he should check on the second strike team that was out in the open.

"Optimus to Prowl. Do you read?"

"Loud and clear, Prime," the tactician answered from the other end of the link.

"Is everything going according to plan?" Optimus asked.

"Affirmative. Hound and Blaster have already gone onto high ground; they know what to do."

"Good work. Are there any news from Jazz and his team?"

"Nothing as of yet."

"Very well," Optimus said. "If anything happens, let me know at once. Prime out."

"It will be done. Prowl out."

Optimus ended the transmission, just in time to hear the sound of metallic footsteps approaching him. The Autobot leader smiled, for he recognised the heavy step and the subtle creaking of badly-oiled motion gears that could only belong to Ironhide.

"You really should let Ratchet check your joints," Optimus said, half-teasing, half-serious, and he faced the weapons' specialist. "Postponing things won't save you from his wrath."

If Ironhide was surprised that Optimus managed to detect his presence, he didn't show it. He just snorted. "He can't get angry with what he doesn't know. Besides, I feel fine."

"I hope so," Optimus said, his smile audible in his voice. "There's still a difference between bravery and recklessness, old friend."

"Yeah, I know," Ironhide replied, kicking an invisible stone in an embarrassed manner.

Optimus tried not to laugh. The veteran Autobot acted like a stubborn sparkling at times. "Alright. Now… what is it?"

"Red contacted me," Ironhide answered. "Teletraan-I hasn't detected any Decepti-clowns."

"We should still be at the ready," Optimus said. "Where is everyone?"

"Bluestreak is standin' guard. Trailbreaker and Cliffjumper went off to have a look around."

"What about Ratchet and Wheeljack?"

"They're with the Twins, waitin'."

"And Skyfire?"

Just then, the sound of engines filled the air. Optimus and Ironhide looked up, and they both caught sight of the familiar lights of a flying vessel in the sky.

"I think I've just got my answer," Optimus noted.

"Yup," Ironhide replied, a smirk tugging on his features. "We're ready for them."

At that moment, the sound of an incoming transmission cut into their conversation.

"Jazz to Prime. Do you read me?"

Alarmed, Optimus immediately opened his communication frequencies. "This is Optimus. Tell me the news, Jazz."

"The Decepticons have just joined the party. They're closing in fast, so you'd better hurry up!"

"Understood, Jazz," Optimus said, and switched off his transmitter before turning to Ironhide.

"Signal everyone. It's time to roll out."

"You got it, Chief," Ironhide said, a smirk on his features; he was itching for a good fight.

* * *

_A/n: Okay, this is it. From now on it's gonna be pure, unadulterated action, so brace yourselves for quite the ride. :D_


	12. Enemy Sighted

Skyfire directed his sensors to the ground, wanting to check on Optimus Prime and the others. So far, the place looked quiet, and the Valkyrie wished inwardly that things stayed that way. He wasn't a warrior, even if circumstances had forced him to become one.

"You alright?"

The gentle tone snapped him out of his musings and he activated the sensors inside the pilot's cabin. Faera was seated in front of the dashboard, regarding the panel in mild concern.

"Yes," he replied. "Don't worry about me."

"Okay," she replied with a nod, and she crossed her arms.

"You are tense," Skyfire noted, checking the readings his sensors sent him. "Your core pulses faster."

She raised an eyebrow; it didn't take a great mind to know she was surprised. "You really do know a lot about the race of Sadjens, don't you?"

Skyfire chuckled. "Not as much as I let on, I assure you," he replied. "I only know what the Merkeesans told me, and that isn't enough."

"I'm sure of it," Faera said. "The Merkeesans saw us as nothing more than vindictive savages."

"Hmm…" Skyfire thought about it for a few moments. "Ebon fits into that description."

Faera didn't answer. She just sighed and bowed her head. Skyfire was far from finished, though.

"However, you made me realise that Sadjens can also be loyal and protective, with a strong sense of justice," he said. "Even if it means having to turn against their own kind."

"I've done nothing different than what you had to do," Faera replied, a sad smile crossing her features. "Perceptor told me about Starscream. I'm sorry; it must have been hard for you."

_He did, didn't he?_ "The Starscream I considered a friend is no more. Lingering in the past won't make a difference."

"No, I suppose it won't."

Her voice was soft, almost wistful, and Skyfire didn't know what to make of that. He didn't have the chance anyway, for it was then that the sound of an incoming transmission cut into their conversation.

"Yo, this is Blaster blastin' at you, Skyfire. Do you read, over?"

Faera sat up at once, and Skyfire opened his communication frequencies.

"Skyfire here. Tell me the news, Blaster."

"It's show-time. You'd better be ready for the grand openin'," the communications officer answered.

"And that means?" Faera asked curiously.

"The Decepticons are here," Skyfire replied before turning his attention to Blaster once more. "Got it, Blaster; we'll be ready. Skyfire out."

At the next moment, a loud crackling sound resonated in the pilot's cabin, almost startling the Valkyrie. When he directed his sensors back to Faera, however, he registered that she was in her beast form, her tail swaying in an agitated manner.

"We don't know if he's here," he pointed out, realising what was in the Sadjen's mind.

"He's here," Faera answer, her usual deep, feminine voice replaced by the synthesized one the chip provided. "He must be."

If Skyfire had been able to in his current state, he would have frowned. Still, there was no denying that look of certainty reflected in the yellow eyes, so he also knew that it was best he should trust her on this.

"I suppose there's only one way to find out," he said, and he activated several controls. "Hold on, this will be abrupt."

Faera followed Skyfire's suggestion and crouched, keeping her eyes closed. The Valkyrie directed his nose upwards and flew towards a large cluster of clouds so that no Decepticon would see him. The turbulence made Skyfire's whole structure shake, yet he kept his course steady.

"You alive back there?" he asked Faera once he levelled up again; she hadn't moved an inch during the whole procedure.

Faera stood up, her eyes shining with amusement. "It will take more than that to bring me down," she said. Swaying her tail once, she walked up to the control panel and checked the monitors. "We're quite high. Can Blaster still cover your energy signal?"

"It's fine," Skyfire said. "The Decepticons won't know what hit them."

"Speaking of which… I think we've just spotted them," Faera said. Indeed, about a dozen red specks appeared on the radar-screen, moving at high speed.

"And unless my sensors are way off, they're right below us." Skyfire activated a small camera and zoomed past the clouds, locking on the familiar Decepticon shapes.

"What did I tell you?" he said to Faera, smiling wryly. "There's Megatron, Soundwave, Thundercracker, Skywarp, Ramjet, Blitzwing…" he stopped midway, for it was then that he noticed something very wrong. "Strange. I don't see Starscream anywhere and yet I can pick up his energy signal."

"Maybe he's inside that one?" Faera ventured, pointing carefully with her claw at Astrotrain; the triple-changer was flying next to Thundercracker and Skywarp.

"That makes things even more curious," Skyfire said. "The Decepticons don't use Astrotrain as a means of transportation for relatively short distances. Unless…" he didn't continue as realisation caught up with him in that very moment.

"Unless they're carrying something and Starscream is guarding it," Faera completed; she knew what was it Skyfire hesitated to say. "I told you he's here."

"We had better contact Prime," Skyfire said, activating his communication frequencies.

"Wait."

Skyfire directed his sensors to Faera. "What is it?"

"Is he supposed to do that?" she asked, still keeping her eyes locked on the radar.

Skyfire returned his sensors back to the camera, seeing the same thing the Sadjen did: Astrotrain flying away from the other Decepticons and heading westward.

"I'm not sure. It can't be good though," he admitted. "Hang on; we'll find out what he's up to."

Faera nodded her understanding and crouched once more, while Skyfire activated more controls and turned westward as well.

* * *

"Megatron, sensors are inoperative. Indications of Autobot interference," Soundwave said, flying close to the Decepticon leader.

"That's weird. I don't see any Autobots," Thundercracker said, directing his visual sensors to the ground.

"Because Prime isn't foolish to leave his troops out in the open," Megatron replied, "At least not without Hound's holograms offering some protection."

"Shall I find the Auto-pest?" Skywarp asked.

"No," Megatron replied with a smirk. "Let them think we're oblivious to their presence for now. It adds flavour to our little plan."

The rest of the Decepticons didn't say anything. After all, it was wise not to question their leader's orders. Still, that didn't mean they had to like them. That seemed to be the case with Thundercracker; he wasn't flying at full speed as it was expected from someone supposedly eager for battle. That was something that didn't escape Skywarp's attention, so he slowed down and brought himself close to the blue Seeker.

- What's wrong, Thundercracker? Don't you want to pummel any Autobots? – he asked, using the Decepticon secret frequency.

- Pummel them in earnest? Yeah, I do, - Thundercracker answered. – But this is a stupid charade. –

- Heh, relax. Things could be worse, you know, - Skywarp said cheerily.

- In what way? –

If Skywarp could wink, he would do so right then and there. – You aren't with Starscream and Astrotrain, Sadjen-sitting. –

The blue Seeker groaned and sped up. "Come on, I can see the plant straight down."

Sure enough, the building itself finally became visible. Acting on cue, Megatron signalled the Decepticons to follow him, and he started flying towards the plant. Everything seemed quiet, and the building looked positively vulnerable. That is, until the sound of audio-piercing music made the Decepticons writhe in agony.

"Who in the Pit is behind this?" Blitzwing cried, trying to be heard over the electric guitars and the screams of the lead singer.

"Oh, I think I have an idea," Ramjet said, the memory of a similar situation still fresh in his databanks. "And if I get my hands on him, he's gonna wish he was never created."

* * *

Jazz watched the Decepticons from his cover near the plant with grim satisfaction. He had wanted to use his woofers for some time, a sort of payback after Megatron hit him with the fusion cannon. Though the saboteur had finally got his chance, he was also aware that he only bought some time till reinforcements arrived. It wouldn't be long before the Decepticons managed to tune down their audio receptors and land, ready to scrap the Autobot that dared try and stop them.

But, if there was something that Jazz never ran out of, was of ideas. He wasn't captain of Special Ops for nothing. So, as soon as he saw the Decepticons regaining their composure one by one, he transformed and sped off to another hiding spot within the plant. The clouds darkened everything under the moonless sky, so Jazz could easily blend in with his surroundings without being noticed. And, if the Decepticons still had their audios set to the minimum as Jazz suspected, then he had one more advantage against them.

Jazz ducked, hiding in the shadows that the structures provided, and waited. As soon as Megatron and Soundwave touched the ground, the saboteur dug out of subspace three tiny mechanisms and activated them. Yellow lights started flashing rapidly, an indication that the mechanisms were about to go off at any moment. Jazz, however, wasn't worried. He waited a few seconds more and then, when all the Seekers transformed, threw the mechanisms at their feet. The mechanisms exploded with a loud bang, releasing smoke and soot. The Seekers let out a cry of dismay and rubbed the dirt off their optics, all the while declaring that the Autobot had just signed his death warrant.

"Soundwave, send Laserbeak out!" Megatron ordered, his optics flashing his wrath.

"Laserbeak, eject. Find the Autobot," Soundwave said, activating the summoning button.

Laserbeak sprang out of Soundwave's chest-plate with a squawk, and he flew up in the sky to locate Jazz. But Jazz was far from idle. He crouched like a large cat and, just as Laserbeak passed over him, he lunged and trapped him in a large metal box. Laserbeak screeched and tried to fly out of the box again, yet the saboteur welded the box shut before throwing it into a trashcan nearby.

_One down,_ Jazz thought, dusting his hands once the matter was taken care of; then he turned towards his next hiding spot.

A nasty metallic hiss was the only thing that warned him that the fight wasn't over. Jazz snapped around to kick his would-be attacker, but Ravage was faster. He headbutted the saboteur, knocking him on the ground. Jazz tried to push Ravage's wide-open jaws away from his vocaliser, but it was easier said than done. Ravage was a strong Decepticon, in spite of his size.

_Blast it…_

But then, as if out of the blue, some kind of force lifted Ravage up in the air. Jazz looked up, gladdened to see a familiar red Lamborghini holding the metallic panther by the tail and not letting him go, no matter how hard Ravage struggled.

"Bad kitty! No energon for you!" Sideswipe declared before tossing Ravage at the wall and rendering him unconscious. Smiling broadly, he offered his hand to Jazz so that the saboteur would get back on his feet. "You okay?"

"I am now," Jazz said, taking Sideswipe's hand and standing up. "Just try not to cut it so short next time," he added in mock reprimand.

"No sense of drama," Sideswipe replied with a shake of his head. "Come on, we're needed elsewhere."

Jazz nodded his understanding, and he followed Sideswipe to the real heat of the battle. Optimus and Megatron were already locked in combat, while Sunstreaker was busy with Soundwave. However, Soundwave had already unleashed his minicasettes, so Rumble was now facing Cliffjumper, and Frenzy and Buzzsaw were teamed up against Ratchet. Ironhide was dealing with Ramjet, though Dirge and Thrust were about to tip the scale to their fellow Seeker's favour.

"Can I have Thrust?" Sideswipe asked, holding up his gun.

Jazz followed suit, a big grin on his lip components. "He's all yours, kiddo."

With that, both Autobots started firing at the two Decepticons. Dirge and Thrust took cover and, a few seconds later, all four of the adversaries were exchanging laserfire.

Even in that situation, though, Jazz still kept an open optic in case someone needed his help. Wheeljack certainly looked like he was in trouble; Blitzwing was approaching the engineer menacingly, fists on the ready to pound him. But, to Jazz's relief, Trailbreaker rushed to Wheeljack's aid. Though the large mech wasn't as fast or as agile as most of his fellow Autobots, he was a good fighter, and Blitzwing didn't stand a chance against him.

Something moving cut into the saboteur's thoughts, and he was about to pull the trigger and shoot at it. That is, until he caught sight of the familiar face of Prowl, who carried a steeled expression and his optics shone brightly due to the battle-rush in his systems.

"Well? Is the battle goin' accordin' to plan?" Jazz asked, firing at Dirge. The Seeker evaded the laserfire and shot back at Jazz, but the saboteur avoided the hit just as swiftly.

"So far, the strategy has been 80% efficient," Prowl answered, and he loaded his acid-pellet rifle. "It's fortunate under the circumstances."

"Fortunate?" Jazz echoed, confused.

"If Megatron had brought his combiners, our chances would have decreased to 55%," Prowl replied as if stating something perfectly natural over a cube of energon.

Jazz snorted. "You humour stinks, did you know that?" he said, and he fired at Dirge again.

Prowl's lip components simply tugged to a small, wry smile, and he aimed his rifle at Buzzsaw. The metallic vulture and Frenzy were about to pounce on a seemingly weaponless Ratchet, so Prowl decided to make things easier for the medic. He fired, and found his target. Buzzsaw let out a squawk of pain and retreated as fast as possible, so all Ratchet had to do was take out of subspace his wrench and toss it on Frenzy's head. Frenzy blinked, and collapsed on the ground very much like a stiff board.

Jazz couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. "Makes you glad the good doctor is on our side," he declared.

"Agreed," Prowl said.

However, Jazz could see that his friend had frowned quite visibly.

"Is somethin' wrong?" he asked.

"I can't see Thundercracker and Skywarp," the tactician answered, and he activated his communication frequencies. "Prowl to Bluestreak. Do you read?"

* * *

Bluestreak looked down at the battle from his relatively comfortable perch on the tallest structure of the plant. Things looked bad, but the gunner didn't let worry seep through his thoughts. Prowl had instructed him to climb up here and do his job, and that was exactly what Bluestreak intended to do, his gun in his hands.

"Prowl to Bluestreak. Do you read?"

Alarmed, Bluestreak activated his communication frequencies. "Loud and clear, Prowl. Is something wrong?"

"Try to locate Skywarp and Thundercracker."

"On it," Bluestreak replied, and his optics started scanning the area for any signs of the familiar purple and blue Seekers. He was dismayed when he didn't manage to find them, nevertheless he didn't give up. Skywarp had the nasty habit of teleporting during battles, after all; he could be just about anywhere. And Bluestreak was sure that, wherever Skywarp was, Thundercracker was bound to be with him.

_Wait a minute…_ Bluestreak did a double take on the building across him, for it was then that he caught sight of a pair of wings. Skywarp was indeed inside the building that housed the generators, ready to fire at the relays that controlled them.

Bluestreak acted fast and with experienced ease. Aware that he had a clean shot, he fired at Skywarp, wounding him on the shoulder joint, then loaded again and waited. But, apparently, Skywarp was in no mood to get shot again, so he teleported out of the room.

"Bluestreak?"

The gunner allowed himself a small smile. "I found Skywarp. You won't have to worry about him for a while."

"I see," Prowl said, and Bluestreak was certain that there was a tone of approval in those two simple words. "What about Thundercracker?"

"Not yet," Bluestreak replied. "He must be up in the air or--"

The gunner never managed to finish his sentence. A deafening roar reached his audios and, before he had any chance to react, Bluestreak was knocked out of his place by something blue and at full throttle. Out of pure instinct, the young mech grabbed hold of the first thing that his hands reached for so he wouldn't drop on the ground.

Thundercracker in his alternate mode.

"Blast it!" both Autobot and Decepticon cried at once. Thundercracker started doing every sort of manoeuvre he could think of to shake Bluestreak off him. Bluestreak, on the other hand, just kept tightening his grip on the F-15's nose, stubbornly holding on.

"If it's not those pesky brothers, it's you!" Thundercracker exclaimed. "Get off me!"

"What do you think I am, an idiot?!" Bluestreak snapped back above the roaring engines.

"Yes! An idiot who doesn't let go!" the Seeker retorted, spinning like some kind of drill. That, however, proved a mistake. The extra weight and the rapid motion got the stabiliser out of sync, so Thundercracker started spiralling out of control.

Bluestreak now knew beyond any doubt that he should jump before he got himself seriously hurt. As soon as Thundercracker was in low enough altitude, he loosened his grip and braced himself for the inevitable impact with the ground. His insides jostled, and though he rolled several times to ease his landing, just as he learned during his training, he still felt the sickening sensation of something breaking. The pain was excruciating, but Bluestreak didn't think about that. He had to get up, for Thundercracker was back on his feet and looking _very_ angry.

The new wave of pain that washed through his body made Bluestreak look down, and he was horrified to see his right leg was broken at the knee-joint, twisted and a dead weight that pinned him down. Worse, he couldn't find his gun; he must have lost it when Thundercracker rammed him.

"You're not so tough now, I see," Thundercracker declared, and he held up one of his ray-guns. "I'll enjoy this."

At the next moment, Bluestreak activated his missile launchers, aiming them straight at the Seeker. Thundercracker stopped on his tracks, and stared at the gunner incredulously, his surprise quite evident on his features.

"Well?" Bluestreak said, his voice dangerously inviting. "I'm waiting."

Thundercracker didn't do anything. He just huffed in dismay and took off once again. Bluestreak remained where he was for many long moments, as if he had frozen in place; but then he slowly sank back on the ground with a sigh of relief. He was never pulling that kind of stunt for as long as he lived.

"Bluestreak!"

The gunner looked up, his gaze resting on the welcome sight of Hound. The jeep, however, knelt next to Bluestreak, concerned.

"You okay?"

"Not really," Bluestreak said truthfully; his leg was killing him. "But…" he added with a smile, "You missed quite the show."

Hound shook his head, although he smiled back at the gunner. "I'm sure I did. Now hold still till I get Ratchet, okay?"

"Okay," Bluestreak replied; then shut his optics and relaxed, knowing that he was safe.

* * *

Optimus parried Megatron's attack with his arm, then attempted to punch his adversary on the jaw. Megatron, however, dodged the attack and sprang backwards, a smirk drawn on his features.

"I admire your persistence, Prime. But it won't help you this time," he said, and he picked a large boulder to throw it at the Autobot leader.

"Funny… I was just about to say the same thing to you, Megatron," Optimus replied, sprinting forward. Using all his speed, he tackled Megatron, forcing him to drop the boulder. At the next moment, a forceful hammer-like hit dented the plating on his back, and Optimus fell on his knees with a groan. He tried to shake off the dizzy feeling before it was too late, for he knew that Megatron would take advantage of that opening for sure.

To Optimus's great surprise, Megatron did nothing. The Decepticon leader simply stepped back, as if he waited for Optimus to get back on his feet. Considering that Megatron didn't believe in honourable fights, Optimus was aware that that could only mean one thing.

Megatron had a trick up his arm-plating.

* * *

Jazz still kept firing from his cover, sparing only a brief glance in Prowl's direction. Prowl was crouched beside him, optics reflecting his frowning expression as he listened intently to Ratchet via the transmitter; but, finally, the transmission came to an end, and Prowl sat up to resume fighting.

"Bluestreak will be fine," he said.

Jazz nodded. "The kid's tougher than he looks."

Prowl just fired at Dirge, not bothering with an answer. Jazz didn't know what to make of that silence at first, but then he noticed that his friend still looked troubled. In fact, he was now scanning the battlefield, optics locking briefly on each and every Decepticon that he could see.

"What is it?" Jazz asked.

"They're holding back," Prowl murmured.

"Come again?!" the saboteur cried, shocked. The only reason that the Decepticons would be holding back was…

- Prowl to Optimus Prime. The attack is a diversion. Repeat, a diversion, - the tactician said, using the secret frequency.

- Oh no… I was afraid of that, - Optimus replied, pushing Megatron away when the Decepticon leader tried to pin him down. – We need to find out where the real attack is going to happen… And I think I know just the right mech to give us that answer. –

- What's our next course of action? – Prowl asked.

- End the transmission and keep fighting, - Optimus ordered. – I'll contact Skyfire.–

- Understood. Prowl out, - Prowl said, and he turned off his communication frequencies. "You heard Prime, Jazz."

"Yeah, I did," Jazz answered, and he started firing at the Decepticons once more. "Let's just hope that things don't get out of hand, though, or we'll be in it up to our necks!"

_TBC…_


	13. The Deep Plunge

"Skyfire? What's that light?" Faera asked, her yellow eyes locked on the Valkyrie's control panel.

"It's fine. It's just the signal for an incoming transmission from Optimus Prime," Skyfire explained.

Faera tilted her head, listening carefully. "All I'm hearing are clicks and pauses."

Skyfire smiled inwardly. "You're right. We're too far away to use the secret frequency, but we're still able to use the human code of communication."

"I thought it was familiar," Faera said in a musing tone. "I kept hearing that back in Santorini, whenever a ship happened to pass."

"Exactly," Skyfire said.

"So what's happening?" Faera asked.

"It seems we did well in following Astrotrain. Megatron's attack at the other plant is just a diversion."

Faera let out a soft rumbling sound in thought. "And what are our orders?"

"Simple enough: we stall them till help arrives. Optimus said that they'll try to drive away Megatron as fast as possible." He paused, checking what his sensors told him at that very moment. "And it looks like we'll have to deal with them sooner than I thought. We've just got out of Blaster's range; they can pick up our energy signatures now."

"They know we're here then," Faera said.

"Yes."

"Right." Faera moved towards the hull, keeping her steps swift and sure.

"What are you doing?" Skyfire asked.

"We'll give them a diversion of our own," Faera said. "Open the hatch."

Skyfire understood, and he certainly liked her way of thinking. Astrotrain wouldn't be able to detect Faera in her current form, so she could take them by surprise. Still… he didn't want her to face the Decepticons _and_ Ebon alone.

"Bumblebee is close by. Contact him and we'll all meet at the plant."

"Very well," Faera answered, nodding her acquiescence.

Skyfire opened the hatch, and the wind rushed howling inside the hull, making her narrow her eyes and flatten her ears on her head. Even so, she approached the edge and leapt out unafraid, extending all her limbs. The membrane that connected her limbs stretched, and she started gliding down, using her tail as an airfoil.

_And I wondered when I would ever witness that, _Skyfire thought with a mental chuckle as he watched her go; then he gunned his engines on full throttle.

* * *

Roars and thuds reverberated through Astrotrain's hull, but Starscream was hardly fazed by it. The air commander simply sat nearby a transparent cage in a relaxed manner, with his hands behind his head and his legs crossed. He knew that _that _would only infuriate the occupant of the cage.

Another thud practically shook the hull, and Starscream couldn't help but smirk cruelly. Sadjens were really persistent creatures, he had to hand them that.

"Starscream, tell that rabid Ravage look-alike to cut it out. He's giving me a headache," Astrotrain said, cutting into Starscream's musings.

"Then you'll have to be patient about it, because I'll do no such thing," Starscream replied, casting a brief glance in the direction of Ebon. The Sadjen was currently pacing back and forth, clearly frustrated. His small accessory, however, was still intact, something that pleased the Decepticon air commander. "His hatred suits me perfectly."

Ebon caught sight of Starscream and lunged forward, only to crash against the barrier again.

"And _I _get all the dents," Astrotrain grumbled under his breath.

"It's not my problem," Starscream replied, shrugging. "Is there anything else you want to tell me?"

"Yeah, there is," the triple-changer said. "I just picked up a strong Autobot energy signature from nearby. Seems like a flier."

"Skyfire…" Starscream murmured, and he hastily stood up. "Is he following us?"

"I don't think so. He passed by us and continued on his way."

That had the air commander frown. "Strange. He should have detected us."

"Not if he's heading off to the plant Megatron is attacking," Astrotrain reasoned.

"Perhaps," Starscream said, rubbing his chin in thought. But, he soon made up his mind. He didn't have to concern himself with that goody two-shoes just yet. If the little… experiment… was successful, it would be Skyfire that would have to worry.

As if on cue, Ebon just opened his jaws wide and lunged at the barrier, crashing against it again.

* * *

When Bumblebee heard Jazz saying that the Decepticons had attacked, his first instinct was to leave his post and join the fight. However, reason quickly stopped him at the last moment. He had already got his orders, so he had to stick to them, trusting the rest of the guys to take care of Megatron and his goons.

That was why he was taken aback when he heard the sound of roaring engines above him, even more so when he saw Astrotrain up in the sky. It was obvious that the triple changer's presence here meant only trouble, so Bumblebee decided to call backup at once.

He didn't have to. In the next moment, he caught sight of Skyfire, following Astrotrain.

"That's what I'm talking about," he said to himself, smiling.

- Bumblebee, do you read? -

The minibot pricked up his audios at that voice. – Faera? –

- That would be me, - the female Sadjen replied, audibly amused. – Mind if I drop in? -

Bumblebee raised an optic ridge at that. But, when he looked up at the sky again, he saw that the clouds had separated and let the bright moonlight shower everything, including the familiar beast form that was currently descending with the grace of a glider.

- You realise that _that _was terrible, I hope, – he said with a tease.

- Don't blame a girl for trying, - Faera retorted, still playing along. – I'll be landing in a few minutes. Are you coming? –

- I'll be right there, - Bumblebee answered, already transforming. He sped off, keeping his visual sensors on Faera at all times, and he soon reached the spot where she would land. Sure enough, she touched ground a few seconds later, barely lifting any amount of dust as she did so.

"I guess that's why you were called 'Lightfoot'," Bumblebee commented, chuckling.

"Partly," Faera replied, half-teasing, half-serious. "Let's go. Skyfire should be at the plant by now."

"Alright. Just stay close to me," the minibot answered, then drove off, Faera running at his side. "I take it Megatron's attack was a diversion?"

"You said it," Faera said. "But I'm not sure what's happening at the third plant."

"Hang on, we can easily find out." Bumblebee activated his communication frequencies, hoping that Blaster would be able to cover his conversation with Mirage from unwanted audios. "Hey, Mirage. Do you copy?"

"Yeah," Mirage replied. "What's going on?"

"Got any Decepticons coming your way?"

"Not even one," Mirage answered. "Everything's quiet."

"Good, 'cause it looks like we'll need your help over here," Bumblebee said.

Mirage didn't answer at once, obviously assessing the situation. "How many are they?"

"Three at least," Faera replied, overhearing the spy. "Astrotrain, Starscream and Ebon."

That seemed to have settled matters for Mirage. "Okay, I'll come as quickly as I can."

"Roger that. Faera, Skyfire and I will keep them busy in the meantime. Bumblebee out." With that, Bumblebee ended the transmission. Not a moment too soon, for it was then that both companions reached the main building of the power plant. Taking advantage of the darkness, the minibot transformed as quietly as possible, then snuck at Faera's side. Meanwhile, the Sadjen was standing rigidly, with her ears upright on her head.

"What is it?" he asked, trusting her sharp sense of hearing.

"Voices," she replied. "One is screechy, and the other sounds more metallic." She faced Bumblebee. "That's them, isn't it?"

"You got that right," Bumblebee answered wryly. However, another thought crossed his mind, and he regarded Faera in concern. "Hey, if you can hear them, that means Ebon can hear us too."

"He can't; we're standing downwind," Faera said. "I'm more worried about your energy signal. Blaster isn't covering you anymore."

"It's too late to back out now. Let's hope they're just too distracted to notice," the minibot pointed out, and he actually smiled at the Sadjen. "Besides, I have you to watch my back."

Faera's eyes widened at those words, an odd mixture of surprise and stunned joy reflected in them. It was almost as if Bumblebee had just offered her a rare, valuable gift, and she accepted it whole-heartedly with two words.

"Thank you."

They didn't say anything else. They simply moved stealthily onward, hoping that Skyfire and Mirage would meet them soon.

* * *

The first thing Skyfire did as soon as Faera jumped out was to find a suitable spot to land. Fortunately, the plant was in an open plain, so he was soon on the ground, transforming back to his robot mode and taking his gun out of subspace. The Valkyrie could pick up both Astrotrain and Starscream's energy signals, just as he knew that the two Decepticons could pick up _his _signal in turn. It didn't matter now, though. Three against three made a good enough match anyway.

Skyfire stepped into the cluster of buildings that compiled the plant, keeping his optics open for any sign out of the ordinary. So far, everything was quiet, but that didn't mean anything; he had already learned the hard way that there was such thing as too much silence.

A noise behind him made Skyfire instantly turn around, but, thankfully, it was only a pair of pigeons that beat their wings as they flew away. Sighing, the Valkyrie was about to continue on, when he saw a familiar panther-esque form walking up to him.

"Well," he said with relief. "I guess we've all made it to our rendezvous point. Where's Bumblebee?"

The Sadjen, however, simply walked on, eyes locked on Skyfire. Skyfire frowned, unsure what to think of that behaviour. That is, until he noticed that _that _Sadjen's eyes carried a spiteful expression. And, if that wasn't enough as a clue, the box on the creature's back _was_. Seeing now the danger that he was in, Skyfire thought at first to fire at Ebon, but he quickly remembered himself. The Sadjens were immune to laserfire; their exoskeleton protected them very much like armour.

So, the Valkyrie went for his next best option: his fists. Though Ebon was thrown a good two feet away at the punch, he wasn't daunted in the least. Growling angrily, he lunged at the Valkyrie again, with jaws wide open and his fangs bared. Skyfire tried to sidestep and avoid Ebon altogether, but Ebon swerved in mid-air with the swiftness and agility of a wild cat and sank his teeth on Skyfire's forearm. Skyfire cried out in pain and tried to shake the male Sadjen off him, but it was of no use; Ebon's grip was too tight. Skyfire could even see fluid oozing out of ruptured cables, trickling down and staining both Ebon and the ground.

There was nothing for it. Skyfire needed an opening, and he needed it now. But where could he find one? As far as Skyfire knew, the Sadjens had no weak spots while in their beast forms.

Or did they? The moment that the idea flashed in his mind, Skyfire took out of subspace a drill that he used whenever he wanted to collect stones for Beachcomber; then got ready to plunge it into the box Ebon carried.

The snarl that Ebon let out sent a chill in Skyfire's spark, making him flinch. Even so, he was freed. Ebon instantly jumped back before the drill touched the box.

Skyfire looked puzzled at Ebon, for that was a reaction that he didn't expect. If he didn't know any better, he'd say that the Sadjen was actually frightened.

Suddenly, the sound of clapping filled the air, and Starscream stepped out of the shadows. The Decepticon air commander was smiling almostsweetly, and there was a smug expression on his features that made Skyfire more than just a little nervous.

"Bravo," Starscream said. "You always helped me while I was conducting my experiments, but, this time, I must say that you've outdone yourself, _friend._"

Skyfire clenched his jaw momentarily, trying to shut out the pain on his arm. "So… I take it you were here the whole time?"

"No, not really; so don't blame yourself for not detecting me sooner," Starscream said. "I just wanted to see how well my pet would do on his own."

Ebon growled and cast a resentful glare in Starscream's direction. Starscream, however, simply huffed and faced the Sadjen, looking quite annoyed.

"I didn't ask for your opinion," he said.

"Nevertheless, I agree with Ebon," Skyfire said. "I don't think Megatron would want to know that you refer to the Sadjen as _your _pet."

"And who's going to tell him? Astrotrain?" Starscream said, chuckling at that idea. "As you can see, he's not here."

"Yes, so I see," Skyfire echoed, optics drifting in every direction to catch any sight of the triple-changer. "Where is he then?"

"Autobot hunting," Starscream said with a brief shrug of his shoulders. "Or did you think we would be so stupid not to detect the _other _energy signal?" The Seeker made a clicking sound in disapproval. "I thought you knew me better than that."

Those last words stung; nevertheless Skyfire accepted the taunt and didn't say a word. That silence didn't seem enough as an answer for Starscream, though.

"What? No pleas to leave your companion out of this? No threats of the 'Don't you dare hurt him' sort?" he said. "I thought the Autobots would have completely converted you by now."

"Or perhaps I trust my friends," Skyfire retorted. "That's something that you'll never have again."

That finally wiped the smirk off Starscream's face. As rage surged through his systems, he aimed his null-ray at Skyfire.

"Save your pity for those who need it," he hissed. "Your friend certainly will after Astrotrain is through with him."

"My friend… or Astrotrain?" Skyfire asked, steeling himself in spite of everything. "Or do you think _we _are so stupid we would come without backup?"

Starscream scoffed at that statement. "You're bluffing."

"Am I?" Skyfire said. "I thought _you _knew me better than that."

"Then why did we pick up only two Autobot signals, pray tell?" Starscream asked, but, at the next moment, he figured out the answer on his own. "Oh. I see."

"That's right," Skyfire said. "So whatever it is you're planning, Starscream, isn't going to work."

"No?" Starscream said, raising an optic ridge. "Perhaps not. But I can still make sure that your victory will be a very bitter one."

With that, Starscream fired at the Valkyrie's chest. Skyfire groaned and collapsed on the ground, the surges of that blast coursing through him and shutting down all his kinetic relays. All he could do was watch helplessly as Starscream beckoned Ebon with a brief wave of his hand to follow him, then cast a brief glance in Skyfire's direction, smiling once more.

"You'll have to excuse me now, Skyfire. I have other business to attend to."

* * *

Bumblebee was still moving forward when he felt one of Faera's claws gently touching his leg, a sign that he should stop. The minibot faced the Sadjen, regarding her curiously.

"I've just heard sounds of a scuffle," she said, answering the minibot's look.

Bumblebee felt his optics widening. "Then Skyfire must be in trouble! We gotta help him!"

Faera, however, shook her head. "You don't understand. I heard all the sounds of the fight but… it didn't sound like it was a battle between _four _individuals."

Bumblebee blinked, trying to figure out what Faera was telling him. Using his sensors, he scanned his surroundings, and it was then that he realised it. One Decepticon energy signal was straight ahead, but the other was coming from behind them.

_Uh oh…_

"Take cover!" he shouted, and he quickly jumped to the side.

Not a moment too soon. A series of blasts barely missed Bumblebee as he rolled out of harm's way and then hid next to one of the generators. Bumblebee held up his gun and checked to see if Faera was still with him.

She was, fortunately. She had even sidled up to him, ready to protect him with her body if it came down to that.

"Hiding, are we?" Astrotrain's voice sounded. "Good! I could use some sport."

- He's asking for it, - Faera said over the secret frequency, claws flexing as she itched to attack.

- Don't let him get to you, - Bumblebee said, placing a reassuring hand on her neck.

- I can still take him, - the Sadjen replied.

- I know you can, - the minibot said, smiling fondly. – Just wait till he gets close enough so we can _both _take him, okay? –

- Okay. – She sniffed the air, eyes narrowing slightly. – He's close. Can you detect him? –

- Yeah, - Bumblebee said. – He's a couple of feet away, moving into our direction.–

- I expected his attack to be swifter than that, - the Sadjen noted.

- Astrotrain has a habit of toying with his opponents. You'll learn, – the minibot replied. But then, Bumblebee detected something else that he didn't like at all. - Oh no… Starscream is on the move, too. –

- Where? – Faera asked.

Bumblebee pointed to his left and up. – There. That's where the humans house the control panels operating the generators. – He faced Faera again, locking his optics on her eyes. – You have to stop him. –

Faera's eyes widened in disbelief. – What about Astrotrain? –

- _I'll _handle him. Go. -

Faera looked at Bumblebee for many long moments, then in the direction of the panels, and she finally nodded.

- Good luck, - she said, then sprinted away. In a matter of moments, she started climbing the structure without error, her claws digging deeply on the wall.

Bumblebee watched her go, sighing with relief. Even so, he knew that nothing was over yet. It looked now that he would have to deal with Astrotrain on his own, but he wasn't sure how he was supposed to do that. Considering his size in comparison to Astrotrain's, Bumblebee's only chance would be if he surprised the Decepticon, something that he couldn't pull off; Astrotrain could detect him at all times.

Unless…

Bumblebee acted immediately. As the idea formed in his mind, he looked up to see some beams over his head. They seemed strong enough, so he decided to try out his plan. He grabbed hold of the beams and climbed up, then waited for Astrotrain to show up.

He didn't have to wait for long. The triple changer came into view, scanning his surroundings in confusion, just as Bumblebee had hoped. After all, the energy signal detectors were never good enough to tell the difference between up and ground-level.

Seeing his chance, Bumblebee jumped on Astrotrain and covered the triple-changer's optics with his hands, startling him. Astrotrain let out a scream of rage and he tried to shake Bumblebee off him, but Bumblebee didn't let go. Seething, the triple-changer charged against a wall in the hopes of ramming his attacker into it, finally knocking him out.

It was exactly what Bumblebee had wanted Astrotrain to do. Remembering Faera's trick, he let go of Astrotrain at the last moment, so Astrotrain rammed his own head instead. The triple-changer staggered dazedly a few steps back, then collapsed on the ground.

Bumblebee poked Astrotrain, making sure that the Decepticon was indeed out, and he allowed himself a smile. He really should thank Faera at the first chance. Now, however, he had to check on Skyfire. Bumblebee was sure that the Valkyrie needed help, so he focused on his sensors and scanned his surroundings once more. With any luck, Skyfire wasn't in stasis lock, so the minibot would be able to pick up his energy signal.

Sure enough, Skyfire's energy signal was strong, and it came from straight ahead. Bumblebee rushed to that direction, and he finally found the Valkyrie, still sprawled on the ground.

"Skyfire!"

Skyfire's optics flashed briefly at seeing the minibot, and his gears whirred loudly as he tried to move.

"Wait, don't strain yourself!" Bumblebee said, and he knelt beside the flier. He winced when he saw the state of Skyfire's arm, but, other than that, Bumblebee couldn't see any other injuries. So why was Skyfire in that state?

"What happened?" he asked before he could help it.

Skyfire forced his lip components open, struggling to speak. His voice came out so low that it was barely audible, but Bumblebee still managed to hear him.

"St… Starscream… null… rays…"

_Of course, who else?_ Bumblebee thought wryly. "Hang on; I'll contact Ratchet."

Skyfire flashed his optics once in understanding, but he also noticed that someone was missing from the picture. "Faera…"

"She's gone after Starscream," Bumblebee said, opening his communication frequencies.

"Then… help… her."

"Not before I make sure you're okay."

"B…But…"

"I know. But it's Faera we're talking about. If it's anyone who's gonna need help, it's Starscream," Bumblebee replied confidently.

Skyfire stopped fighting his paralysis. He just sighed, still keeping his optics locked on the minibot.

"I hope… you're right."

_TBC…_


	14. Starscream's Victory

The battle still raged on, even though both Autobot strike teams fought with everything they had. Prowl and Jazz were fighting from behind their cover, though the tactician had the additional task of keeping an open optic on the general situation. Ratchet worked on Bluestreak's leg, trusting Hound and Wheeljack to keep them safe from enemy fire. Ironhide had finally managed to deal with Ramjet and he was now helping Tracks with Thundercracker. Meanwhile, since there was no need to jam the signals anymore, Blaster had also joined the fight, heading straight at Soundwave to engage him in their usual sonic duel. Sunstreaker knew better than to stand in their way, so he joined his brother in fighting Thrust instead. As for Cliffjumper, he was able to get back at Rumble for their previous clash back in Santorini by throwing him a punch that knocked him out cold.

Even so, the Decepticons had no intention of giving up this time. Ravage and Frenzy had recovered, and they were more than eager to attack Gears and Smokescreen. Though Smokescreen used his smoke to confuse the two minicassettes, they were still in trouble, so Huffer had to run to their aid. Blitzwing was still locked in combat with Trailbreaker, forcing him to use his shields constantly, something that started to tire out the black mech. Thankfully, Brawn was close by, so the triple changer also had to deal with a minibot who was only too happy to exchange blows with him.

This battle was getting nowhere, just as Megatron had intended. And, as Optimus evaded another of the Decepticon leader's attacks, he realised that they were losing precious time, especially when Ratchet contacted him and reported over the secret frequency that Skyfire was down.

- How bad is it? – Optimus asked, while parrying another blow and punching Megatron on the chest.

- According to Bumblebee, Starscream hit Skyfire with his nullrays; Skyfire can't move, – Ratchet said.

- Not a problem. I can have him up and about in a jiffy, - Wheeljack declared, overhearing the conversation.

- Good, - Optimus said, taking his energy axe out of subspace. – Jazz, I want you to escort Wheeljack to the other plant a.s.a.p. Bumblebee needs that backup. –

- You got it, Prime, - Jazz replied, and he cast a brief glance in Prowl's direction. – Can you handle Dirge, man? –

Prowl nodded. – Mirage is on his way to the plant, too. You'll probably meet him there. –

- Gotcha, - Jazz answered, and he transformed to his car mode. – Alright, Wheeljack. Time to move out. -

- You don't have to tell me twice, - Wheeljack said, transforming as well.

Megatron, however, saw both Autobots drive off the battle, and he guessed what they were up to.

"Skywarp, stop those two from getting away!" he cried.

Complying in spite of his injuries, Skywarp materialised in front of Jazz and Wheeljack, ready to fire at them. At the next moment, however, a series of blasts hit Skywarp directly on his wings, forcing the Seeker to dematerialise again.

"No! This can't be!" Megatron exclaimed.

"Oh, yes it can, Megatron," Optimus said, the barrels of the laser turrets in his trailer still smoking. "Your game is up. It's time to fight in earnest now."

Megatron curled his upper lip in distaste. "As you wish then, Prime. Prepare for oblivion!"

And with that, Megatron charged at Optimus Prime once more, while Jazz and Wheeljack headed to the other plant at top speed. No other Decepticon tried to stop them again, so it didn't take them long to reach their destination. They transformed back to their robot modes as soon as they reached the first structures, their guns in hand and scanning for anything out of the ordinary.

"I pick up one Decepticon signal at 12 o'clock, but he's not moving," Wheeljack noted. "If what Bumblebee said is correct, it's probably Astrotrain, still unconscious."

Jazz pursed his lips momentarily. "Maybe. We'd better make sure though."

"I already have," another voice said out of thin air. "Astrotrain won't come online any time soon."

Jazz and Wheeljack looked to their right, just in time to see Mirage coming out of his invisibility cloak. Jazz smiled to see the spy and greeted him with a friendly nod.

"Been here long?" he asked, regarding Mirage curiously.

Mirage shook his head. "Not more than five Earth minutes. I checked the territory for any other unpleasant surprises, but it looks like the coast is clear."

"Then there's no point in wastin' time," Jazz said. "Bumblebee and Skyfire shouldn't be too far away."

"They're not. Come on," Wheeljack said at that moment, already heading to the direction from which the energy signal came. Sure enough, they soon found the minibot, still next to the Valkyrie, talking to him encouragingly.

"Hey, Bumblebee! The cavalry's here!" the engineer cried.

Bumblebee looked up, and he smiled in relief when he saw the newcomers. "Finally! For a moment there, I thought you guys wouldn't make it."

"Better late than never, buddy," Jazz said, smiling back at the minibot. "Where's Starscream?"

"He's gone towards the generator relays," Bumblebee said, stepping back to let Wheeljack work on Skyfire. "Faera went after him about a quarter of an hour ago, but she hasn't contacted me yet. I should have--"

It was then that a deafening roar cut through the air like a knife, making the Autobots freeze. They exchanged a glance as the same question crossed their minds, but Wheeljack shook his head at once.

"It's not her," he said. "If it was, the chip would have translated the roar."

"I think I can translate that roar as 'uh oh'," Jazz pointed out wryly.

At those words, Bumblebee dashed forward without thinking, running as fast as his legs could carry him.

"Bumblebee, wait!" Mirage cried, but it was too late; Bumblebee had already gone out of sight. "Stubborn minibot…" the spy muttered under his breath, and he ran off as well, activating his invisibility cloak.

"You'd better go too, before those two put a foot in it," Wheeljack said, turning his gaze to Jazz. "No worries, I've got everything under control here."

Jazz nodded his understanding, then hurried in the same direction Bumblebee and Mirage went, determined not to let Faera down. If she needed help, they would be there to offer it to her.

-----------------

Starscream held up a datapad and checked again the plans of the plant. Provided Soundwave's information was correct, then the control panels should be straight ahead.

_Perfect_. All he had to do now was fire at the generator relays, then contact Astrotrain so that they could start harvesting the energy for themselves. They already had enough cubes stored in subspace to make this a worthwhile raid.

When things seemed that easy, however, there was always a catch. Fortunately, Starscream already suspected what was the catch this time, and he was prepared for her. Though his sensors couldn't detect the female Sadjen, there was someone with him who could.

Sure enough, just as Starscream approached the control panels, Ebon stiffened and held his head high, his nostrils twitching. At the next moment, Ebon narrowed his eyes and let out an almost deafening roar, a sign that he had pick up his adversary's scent and he demanded of her to show herself.

As if she decided to meet his challenge head on, Faera stepped out of the shadows, her neck arched and her gaze locked on Ebon.

"Well, I'm out, Ebon. Just as you requested," a synthesized voice said, coming out of her.

Starscream raised an optic ridge. "How intriguing. The Autobots implanted a translator on you, didn't they?"

Ebon snarled in Starscream's direction quite indignantly, then got ready to lunge at Faera. But Starscream felt too close to victory to allow anyone to ruin things for him, so he opened a panel in his arm.

"You stay where you are, pet. I'm not done talking," he declared, and he pressed a button.

Just as Starscream had intended, the electrum spikes on the box lengthened and stretched, piercing the Sadjen's back further and approaching his core. Ebon let out a painful roar as his exoskeleton got torn asunder, and his legs practically buckled underneath him. Nevertheless, he stubbornly tried to take a few more steps in Faera's direction. That is, until another press of the button had him collapse, breathing heavily as he tried to ride out his pain.

Faera's eyes widened as she stared appalled at the scene, something that didn't escape Starscream's attention. Perhaps this was a good chance as any to verify some _other _matters.

"So… where's your miracle thingamajig, woman?" he asked, as if nothing had happened. "I don't see it on you."

"Unlike your side, the Autobots preferred to be discreet," Faera replied. She looked briefly at Ebon, her shock gone from her eyes, then back at Starscream. "I'm surprised you managed to latch that machine on Ebon's back. Besides our claws and teeth, there's just one other one thing that can actually penetrate our bodies."

"Yes, I know. That's why I decided to put that knowledge into good use," Starscream said, smirking. "Oh, I don't plan on killing him," he added, noticing Faera's stiffened posture. "I simply consider this a… training tool of sorts." In that moment, Ebon pushed himself back up with a low growl, and the air commander purposefully walked up to him to stroke the ebony head. "It would be a waste to lose such a fine slave… yet."

"Not if I can help it!" Faera cried, and she launched herself against the Seeker. Starscream acted quickly and took out his electrum blade to plunge it on the female Sadjen's chest, but Ebon growled and headbutted Starscream out of the way. Faera landed on the male Sadjen instead, tackling him forcefully on the floor and pinning him down on his side. Ebon kicked viciously and he attempted to get up again, but she'd have none of that.

"You brought this on yourself! Now hold still!" she snarled.

Starscream, however, had other ideas.

"You shall pay for this!" he shouted at Ebon, and he pressed the button on his arm again. Ebon roared again as the spikes tore his exoskeleton further, and spasms of agony washed through his body.

"STOP IT!" Faera bellowed, casting a death glare in Starscream's direction.

Starscream did, only because he had seen enough. After feeling his side for damages, he got back to his feet slowly, smiling triumphantly as he finally found out what he had wanted.

"Such care for someone who merely saved you because he wants to kill you himself?" he said, and he chuckled cruelly. "I thought that blabbering blue Datsun was exaggerating when he said that you don't hate Ebon, but now I see it only too clearly. You actually _love _him."

"That's _my_ business!" Faera snapped. Opening her jaws wide, she sank her teeth on the device on Ebon's back in order to tear it off him.

Starscream shook his head in mock sympathy. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

She looked at him from the corner of her eye, a growl emanating from her throat even as she still kept the device between her teeth. "Do you actually think I'll listen to you?"

"Oh, fine, go ahead and bite it off him if you want," Starscream said, shrugging. "It's not like _I_ care what happens to him."

She lifted her head. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Let's just say I took some extra precautions in case you, or anybody else, tried to remove his box," Starscream said. "The electrum spikes are actually hollow so they can accommodate quite the amount of nitroglycerine in them. Do you know what that is?"

"No, but I have a feeling you're going to tell me," Faeara said, still glaring at Starscream.

"Of course," Starscream said. "Nitroglycerine is a powerful explosive, ready to go off at the slightest disturbance unless it's frozen… like now. Try to force it out and the rapid thawing will cause a detonation that will blow up this facility and everything else in its vicinity sky high."

"You will be killed too," Faera pointed out.

"So will you. More importantly, so will innocent lives," Starscream retorted. "Is it really a chance you want to take?"

The female Sadjen said nothing, but Starscream could tell that she was torn. Her tail swayed vigorously, while her ears and nostrils twitched subtly as she contemplated matters carefully. In the end, however, she stepped back slowly, keeping her eyes both on Ebon and on Starscream.

"Just as I thought," Starscream said, and he spared a brief look on Ebon as the male Sadjen got back on his feet. "She's all yours."

Ebon bared his teeth, the prospect of the oncoming battle giving him new strength. But then, all of a sudden it seemed, he stopped in his tracks to smell something else in the air.

Faera didn't give him the chance to investigate matters further. She lunged at him, forcing him into combat.

"What?" Starscream exclaimed, his optics widening in surprise.

He got his answer when Bumblebee appeared, his gun already in his hand. Swearing under his breath, Starscream held up his null rays and got ready to fire at the annoying minibot. However, another voice behind him made him stop.

"Sorry, Starscream; you should have bragged less," Mirage said, coming out of his invisibility cloak and holding Starscream at gunpoint. "I'll take the null rays if you please."

"Just try and take them, Autobot," Starscream said, but a third blaster was aimed in his direction as a response.

"He said, 'please'. I won't be that nice," Jazz said, optics flashing dangerously underneath the visor.

This time, Starscream decided that it was for the best to comply. He grudgingly handed over his null rays to Mirage, who tossed them as far away as possible.

"Right," Bumblebee said, and he turned to Jazz. "Should I put the energon cuffs on him?"

"Be my guest, man," Jazz answered, still holding Starscream at gunpoint.

Yet Starscream smirked. After dealing with Megatron's constant death threats practically ever since he had joined the Decepticons, this was nothing but sparkling's play.

"Do that and Ebon will have no master to control him," he said. "You don't want him to roam unchecked, sinking his claws on anything that crosses his path, do you?"

"Nice try, Starscream," Mirage said. "Lying won't get you anywhere."

"If you don't believe me, go ahead and ask _her_," Starscream replied, and he activated the thrusters on his feet. Before any of the Autobots could react, Starscream had crashed the roof through which he flew away, and Jazz had to shout at everyone to take cover. Seeing his chance, Starscream quickly located Astrotrain, who was finally coming around, and gave his new order.

"Snap out of it and grab Ebon! We're done here!"

* * *

Bumblebee opened his optics cautiously, and he looked at his surroundings. Debris were scattered all about, and there was still a lot of dust in the air, almost blocking his air vents. Other than that, however, Bumblebee was unharmed.

"You guys okay?" he asked, turning to Mirage and Jazz.

"I think so," Mirage said, checking himself, "Just dents and scratches, as far as I can tell."

"Same here. Can't say the same about the roof though," Jazz said. "Grapple and Hoist will have their hands full for a week."

"Yeah. At least the Decepticons didn't get to steal any energy," Bumblebee pointed out. Indeed the place was quiet now, and he couldn't detect any enemy energy signals.

It was over.

_Wait a minute…_

The place was _too _quiet.

"Where's Faera?" he asked, when he realised that he didn't hear her roars.

"She was fighting with Ebon just minutes ago," Mirage said, looking around.

Bumblebee now knew that this wasn't good, and he berated himself for not noticing her absence sooner. "Faera!" he cried.

"Hold on, I'll try to contact her," Jazz said, opening his communication frequencies. "Hey, Faera, this is Jazz. Do you copy?"

"I'm right here, Jazz."

All three Autobots turned around in surprise, and saw Faera walking up to them. Her step was slow, almost tired; but Bumblebee saw how drained she really was when she changed back to her humanoid form. The look in her eyes screamed weary.

"Are you okay?" he asked before he could help it.

"Yes, don't worry," she replied in a reassuring, albeit soft tone.

"What about Ebon?" Mirage asked, his optics reflecting his frowning expression.

Faera's hands clenched into fists, and Bumblebee was sure that she was barely controlling herself not to punch the wall nearby in frustration.

"He ran away," she replied, grounding out the words as though they sickened her. "As if becoming a slave wasn't bad enough."

A terrible suspicion formed in the back of Bumblebee's mind. "Then… Starscream was telling the truth? He actually controls him?"

Faera heaved a sigh and she averted her eyes. That was enough as an answer.

"Primus, girl…" Jazz murmured, clearly shocked. "It could have been you."

Bumblebee shuddered at that thought, for he knew that Jazz was right. If the Autobots hadn't found her when they did…

"I would die first," Faera declared vehemently, only for her expression to change to one of utter disappointment. "Ebon stripped himself even of thatdignity."

Jazz opened his mouth to speak, but it was then that the characteristic sound of an incoming transmission cut him off.

"Wheeljack to Jazz. I just saw Starscream and Astrotrain fly away with Ebon. You must have really got them on the run!"

Bumblebee watched Jazz clench his jaw momentarily, while Mirage shifted on his legs in evident discomfort. They clearly felt as uneasy as the minibot himself did. Faera, on the other hand, simply drew her shoulders back, composing herself once more.

"I guess we did," Jazz finally answered, his tone not as cheerful as he would have probably liked. "How's Skyfire?"

"He's good to go," Wheeljack answered. "I even patched up his arm temporarily, so he can fly us out of here."

"Roger that, Wheeljack. See you in a minute." With that, Jazz ended the transmission. "You heard him, folks. Let's go."

Everyone nodded and complied, yet their spirits were heavy. They were all aware that that battle had hardly been a victory.

_TBC..._


	15. The New Autobot

Optimus groaned as Megatron kicked him in the chest, and he staggered a few steps back before parrying the Decepticon leader's attack with his axe. Megatron, however, attacked with his mace, denting the plating on Optimus's shoulder. Optimus knelt at the force of the hit, trying not to think of the pain that surged through his systems. Seeing the opening he had been looking for, Megatron held up his fusion cannon, aiming it directly on Optimus's head.

"Well, Prime. It looks like _I _have the upper hand this time," he declared. "Any last requests before I finish you off?"

"Only one: give up!" Optimus said, and he charged at Megatron with all the speed he could muster, throwing him against a thick wall.

Megatron tried to catch his breath at that impact. "Interesting tactics, Prime; but futile," he said with a smirk, then used his legs as leverage to throw Optimus off his feet again before activating his communication frequencies. "Megatron to Starscream. Report." He paused, listening to everything that his second-in-command said via the communication link. "What? You fool! How could you let this happen?!"

"Sounds to me like you lost, Megatron," Optimus said, optics flashing brightly.

Megatron ended the transmission angrily and glared at Optimus. "There are many roads to victory, Prime. I _will _prevail."

With that, Megatron sounded the retreat and took off, his silver plating glinting under the moonlight. The rest of the Decepticons obeyed the order and followed their leader without bothering to look back and, in a matter of moments, all the Decepticons were swallowed in the dark veil of the night.

Optimus watched the Decepticons go as the sound of cheering filled the air; his subordinates were more than glad to see their enemies leave. Prowl, however, walked up to Optimus, a thoughtful expression on his features.

"Should we have them followed?" he asked. "Tracks can find out if they have a temporary base nearby."

Optimus shook his head. "Let them go, Prowl. There will be another time."

"Very well," Prowl answered. "With your permission, then, I'll rally our troops and make preparations for our return to Base."

"Permission granted," the Autobot leader replied. "Meanwhile, I'll contact the director of the plant and the mayor; they have to be notified about the attack and the damages."

"That would be best," the tactician agreed, and he turned on his heel to start gathering the Autobots.

Just then, Optimus's audios picked up the low whistle of an incoming transmission. Suspecting who it was, Optimus activated his communication frequencies to hear Jazz's voice.

"Jazz here, Prime, We stopped the Decepticons and we're ready to come over. Do you read?"

"Loud and clear, Jazz," Optimus answered. "What about Skyfire?"

"Wheeljack's patched him up. He's still got a busted arm, but he can transform."

"Good. ETA?"

"Not more than five Earth minutes."

"Then we'll meet you here. Optimus out."

"Gotcha. Jazz out."

* * *

Five minutes later, Optimus and the other Autobots heard Skyfire's engines, and it didn't take them long to see the flier himself, descending. Though Skyfire felt uncomfortable because of his injuries, his landing was smooth and flawless. He even tried to play down matters, saying that he was ready to carry all the Autobots back to the Ark if necessary.

Even so, Optimus decided that the Valkyrie shouldn't burden himself. He told Ratchet to put all the Autobots who were injured and unable to transform inside Skyfire, while the rest would drive back to Base. The only exception would be Faera, who would sit inside Optimus's trailer, and Blaster, who would ride inside Hound.

It was a welcome arrangement. And so, in less than a quarter of an hour, Bluestreak, Tracks, Ironhide, Trailbreaker and Ratchet flew away in Skyfire, whereas the rest of the Autobots followed in their alternate modes. Now that the Decepticons were defeated, everyone drove in a relaxed manner, and even exchanged small talk concerning the battle. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were particularly talkative, describing in detail every fighting technique that they used, as well as the effect it had on their adversaries.

"You guys should have seen Thundercracker's face when I kicked him in his aft," Sideswipe said. "His glare was priceless!"

"It was nothing compared to Soundwave's indignation when I avoided his sonic attack and gave him two punches that almost broke his face-plate in half," Sunstreaker said, chuckling almost maniacally. "Who knew that he actually had feelings?"

"He can still get you where it hurts the most," Blaster pointed out. "Those scratches and dents are all over you chassis, man."

"He was lucky!" Sunstreaker said dismissively. "I'll get him next time."

Optimus couldn't help but smile inwardly as he listened in on the banter, for it was at times like these that he felt like his Autobot leader position was truly worthwhile. Still, he could also sense that Faera had become awfully quiet, and she hardly acknowledged her surroundings. Even Roller got curious and he approached her to examine her; but she simply placed a hand on him in a motion to pet him and she remained there, lost in thought.

Optimus knew what was wrong with her, of course. Jazz had already filled him in on her encounter with Starscream. A part of him even wanted to talk to Faera about it, hoping that he would be able to help her somehow. However, Optimus was also aware that the best thing he could do was leave her be till she cleared her mind. She would open up to him when she felt ready.

"Hey, Bumblebee, Mirage has just told me an interesting story," Hound said in that moment, cutting into Optimus's train of thought. "You actually took on Astrotrain on your own?"

Bumblebee's engine made a small chocking sound, a sign that the minibot felt very self-conscious all of a sudden. "It… it was nothing really…" he murmured.

"Nothing?" Cliffjumper exclaimed, laughing. "I'll now have to think twice before I pick on you again."

Brawn hummed his agreement. "I always knew you had bolts of steel, little buddy."

"I had good help, that's all!" Bumblebee blurted out in embarrassment. "Faera was there with me!"

Hearing her name snapped Faera out of her reverie. Optimus sensed her looking up, her eyes bright and with life once more.

"It wasn't me who knocked him out," she corrected, a playful lilt finally audible in her voice. "You did that on your own, Bumblebee."

"But…!"

"Sorry, Bumblebee, but the lady has spoken," Wheeljack declared, and Optimus was sure that the engineer was positively grinning.

"Indeed she has," Faera seconded. "So no arguing with me, got it?"

If Bumblebee had been able to, he would have blushed right then and there. "Got it."

"Oh, how the mighty have fallen," Sideswipe sniggered, and Sunstreaker bumped on him, as if nudging him meaningfully.

"Come on, guys, cut it out," Jazz said, even though it was obvious he was amused. He paused for a moment, as if another thought occurred to him just then, and he drove close to Prowl. "You know, Prowl, my man… Faera did good out there. She kept her cool the entire time and she worked well with Skyfire and Bumblebee."

Prowl made a small noise in thought. "She's also proven her worth in fighting, reconnaissance and stealth."

Faera tilted her head, hearing the two Autobots only too clearly. "Flattering as those things may be, I'm not sure where you're getting at."

Optimus, however, understood perfectly. "Congratulations, Faera. You've just become an Autobot," he said, smiling.

"I have?" Faera asked, quite surprised.

"In Special Ops division, to be exact," Prowl pointed out. "You'll be able to apply your abilities to the fullest in that position."

She raised an eyebrow as she processed what the tactician told her. "Will I still be a soldier then?"

"Sure thin'. We just specialise in other stuff other than standard fighting," Jazz answered, happy to explain matters to her. "I do the sabotages, Mirage spies and Bumblebee scouts."

"You mean…?" Faera started, though something in her tone showed that she already suspected the answer.

"Yup. We'll be working together," Bumblebee said, and it didn't take a great mind to see that the yellow minibot was beaming at the news.

"So it's official," Wheeljack said. "Welcome to the team, Faera!"

"Welcome!" the other Autobots said, glad that the Sadjen would stay with them. As for Faera, she smiled, and Optimus managed to pick up the soft 'Thank you' she murmured.

"Great!" Sideswipe declared, "This calls for a celebration!"

"Sideswipe…" Prowl said. If the tactician had been in his robot mode, he would have certainly shaken his head.

"What?" the red Lamborghini said innocently. "It's a special occasion!"

"He has a point man. You guys threw a party when Smokescreen, Perceptor and I joined the Ark group," Blaster said. "Besides, it's been a while since we had a little fun."

"Then it's settled?" Sideswipe said hopefully.

Prowl didn't say anything, as if he contemplated matters carefully; then directed his sensors on Optimus.

"What do you think, Prime?"

Optimus pretended to think about it as well, figuring that he and Prowl should keep appearances for a few minutes longer; they _were _officers, after all. In the end, though, he smiled.

"Well… Why not?"

* * *

Starscream crashed against the wall, then collapsed on the floor with a heavy clanking sound. He could still taste the fluid in his mouth, and he winced when he probed his jaw with cautious fingers. Megatron always knew how to throw a mean punch.

"You were supposed to steal that energy, Starscream," Megatron said, towering over his second-in-command. "Soundwave had prepared thirty energon cubes for that very purpose, and you returned here empty-handed!"

"The Autobots saw through the diversion, Megatron," Starscream replied. "There was nothing Astrotrain and I could have done."

Megatron narrowed his optics, red light flashing through them. "Are you suggesting that my plan was flawed?"

"I wouldn't dare, mighty leader," Starscream said, not wishing to get another punch in the face. "But it wasn't easy to keep an optic on the Autobots _and _our slave."

"I hope that you will make things easier next time, Starscream, or you _will _pay the price," Megatron declared, holding up his fusion cannon.

"It's already done, leader," Starscream replied at once, holding up his hands up in a gesture of peace. "The energy magnet works perfectly!"

That certainly caught Megatron's attention. "Perfectly, you say?"

"Oh, yes," the air commander said, smiling inwardly; he had saved his neck again. "Ebon is yours to command, Megatron."

Megatron regarded Starscream hard. "I'll believe that when I see the Sadjen himself."

"Of course, wise leader," Starscream said, nodding emphatically, and he motioned his hand to the exit. "Follow me."

Megatron did just that, and Starscream guided the Decepticon leader into a small room that was empty of equipment. It was quite dark, but both Decepticons could still see a humanoid form huddled at one of the furthest corners across from them.

"No cage?" Megatron asked. Indeed, Ebon wasn't confined.

"There's no need for that anymore, leader," Starscream explained, and he walked up to the male Sadjen to cup his chin, forcing him to look up. "The magnet is currently absorbing his energy, making him as weak as a protoform."

Ebon clenched his jaw and grabbed Starscream's arm, yet nothing happened.

"You see?" the air commander continued, unfazed. "He's harmless."

Megatron frowned in disbelief; nevertheless he examined Ebon with quite the scrutiny, even going so far as to touch the flesh-like hand. But still nothing happened.

"Excellent," the Decepticon leader finally said. "And what of the status of the energy container?"

"It's currently 5% full."

"Good." Megatron turned on his heel and headed for the exit. "When it reaches at 30%, prepare some energon cubes. We need the… replenishment."

"You shall have it, leader," Starscream said, bowing his head.

"Oh, and Starscream?" Megatron stopped on his tracks.

"Yes, Megatron?" Starscream asked, curious.

"Why settle with one Sadjen when we can have two?"

Starscream caught on at once, and he smirked knowingly. "I'll start building a second magnet."

"Do that," Megatron said, and he continued towards the exit once more.

"She's not worth it, Megatron."

The Decepticon leader stopped in his tracks and looked back at Ebon. The Sadjen was glaring at him in pride and defiance in spite of everything.

"On the contrary, Sadjen; I think she's worth every drop of energy that is in her," Megatron said coldly. Ebon opened his mouth to speak, but Megatron proved faster and continued on. "I know what it is you want, Sadjen. And I know you want to live long enough to see her die before your eyes. But…" at that, Megatron's lips tugged to a cruel smile. "It doesn't have to be a swift death, does it?"

Ebon remained silent for many long moments, his lips pursed and his brows furrowed in thought. Starscream and Megatron watched as Ebon weighed all his options; and then, to their grim satisfaction, they got their answer.

"Just tell me what to do."

**To Be Concluded...**


	16. Optimus's Promise

Sideswipe was always reluctant to do any kind of chores that had to do with maintenance, monitor duty and writing reports. However, he was always willing to make all the arrangements for a celebration to be remembered, and this time wasn't an exception. In fact, everything was ready the very next night after the battle. And so, after an uneventful, Decepticon-free day, almost all the Autobots were gathered in the common room, enjoying the music and their energon. Even the Autobots who had gotten injured were there after finally getting discharged from Ratchet's care, laughing and having a good time along with their friends.

Faera, on the other hand, looked very much like a fish out of water. She sat upright on her seat, her eyes wide-open and looking every which way in an attempt to grasp everything that was going on around her.

"You okay?" Bumblebee asked. He was sitting across from her and he had noticed her restlessness.

Faera faced him, blinking. "What?" she said loudly, trying to be heard over the music.

Understanding what the problem was, Bumblebee tried again, making sure she read his lip components. "I asked if you're okay."

"Oh," she mouthed, and she cast a brief glance around. "Yes, I think so."

"It's the music, isn't it?" Gears said, and he looked in Blaster's direction. The boombox was sitting on a small pedestal and doing what he liked best: blasting his music. "I told you it was too loud!"

Blaster tilted his head, pointed at his audios and shrugged, something that made Gears huff.

"My point exactly," he muttered.

"I'll live, Gears; it's fine," Faera said, smiling a bit. "This is nothing compared to the Eckoans."

"Eckoans?" Perceptor asked; he couldn't help but feel intrigued at the mention of the name.

Sunstreaker groaned, realising that Perceptor was about to let his curiosity run away with him. "Here we go…"

"They were nasty, I can tell you that," Faera answered, wincing at the memory. "Take Blaster's music, multiply it by ten, and you might get an idea on what their shrieks were like."

"That explains why you weren't stunned when I activated my woofers back in Santorini," Jazz said at that moment, a tray with energon cubes in his hands. "Here are your drinks, folks!" he added, and he started handing out the cubes to everyone around.

"Thanks, Jazz. You're a lifesaver," Tracks said, taking a cube.

Jazz just grinned and sat next to Faera, handing her a cube as well. Faera raised an eyebrow and regarded the saboteur in a perplexed manner.

"I figured you might want to try some," Jazz explained. "Bottoms up."

"Okay… Sure." Faera picked up the cube, yet she still kept looking at it confused.

"Just do it like this," Bumblebee said, wishing to help out. He held up his own cube, placed his lip components on the rim and tilted it just enough to have a sip.

Faera watched Bumblebee in fascination, then mirrored the minibot's actions to a tee. However, instead of having a small sip, she managed to down the whole content in a single gulp. All the Autobots at the table stared at her agape, something that made Faera quite self-conscious.

"Did I do it wrong?" she asked.

"Nah," Sideswipe said, grinning once more. "Just don't do that in front of Ironhide."

She frowned. "Why?"

"He'll marry you," Sunstreaker replied, his lips tugging to a smirk.

"If Chromia lets him live that long," Tracks added with a snigger.

Everyone laughed at that. Faera, however, leaned close to Bumblebee and Jazz in a confidential manner.

"So I suppose Chromia is…?" Her voice trailed off, trying to find the appropriate term.

"You got it. Ironhide's bondmate," Bumblebee answered.

"Ah." Faera shook her head. "I'll have to start keeping track on who's who," she commented.

"No sweat, girl; I'll fill you in in no time," Jazz said with a reassuring grin, patting her shoulder. "Speakin' of which, there's something I want to talk to you about."

"Oh?"

Jazz sipped some of his energon. "Have you considered changin' lodgings? You don't have to stay in the crater forever, you know."

"Jazz is right. You're officially an Autobot now," Bumblebee said. "You don't have to separate yourself from the rest of us."

"I see your point," Faera said in a musing tone. "Nevertheless, I think I should stay in the crater. I heard that Red Alert is worried about spies coming through there."

"You thinkin' of standin' guard?" Jazz asked, raising an optic ridge.

"I'm comfortable there, and I'm a light sleeper," she replied. "I might as well help out."

Jazz smiled, accepting her reasoning. "Okay, I hear you. But if we ever install cameras there, you move to a dorm. Understood?" he said in his best commanding voice, even though his tease was still audible.

Faera's eyes shone in mirth. "Yes, Sir."

With that, it seemed like the matter was settled. Jazz held up his energon cube in a cheers motion and he drank some more of the luminescent liquid. Just then, however, another song started, and Jazz sat up at once.

"Blaster, you know my tastes," he said to no one in particular, and he looked at Bumblebee. "Shall we hit the dance floor, buddy?"

"Right behind you!" the minibot declared, following Jazz to the centre of the room. Faera watched them curiously, and she even caught sight of more Autobot gathering to the centre of the room.

"What's happening?" she asked Perceptor; she wasn't sure what to make of things.

"They're dancing," Perceptor replied. "Have you ever tried it?"

"Well, I know how... sort of," Faera said. "I'm not familiar with that kind of dance though," she added, pointing at the Autobots who were dancing to the rhythm of the latest Earthen hit.

"I see." After considering matters for a moment, Perceptor stood up and extended his hand to her. "I'm not proficient in it myself, admittedly. Nevertheless, would you care to join me?"

Faera looked at Perceptor's hand for a few moments, uncertain. In the end, however, she stood up.

The Autobots that were still at the table clapped at the sight.

"Whoo hoo! Way to go, Perceptor!" Sideswipe declared.

"Show her what you're made of!" Tracks added.

"And try not to step on each other!" Sunstreaker deadpanned.

Perceptor just chuckled in an embarrassed manner, then guided the Sadjen amid the dancing Autobots.

* * *

It was late at night when Starscream slipped out of his dorm and headed for Hook's workshop. As second-in-command, he had access to all the rooms inside the Nemesis, something that proved very handy at the moment. The last thing he wished was to explain himself to the Constructicon. What he wanted to do was _his _concern alone.

The workshop was empty, just as Starscream had suspected. More importantly, the raw materials he had been looking for were in plain sight, making things almost too easy for him. He would replace his missing electrum blade in no time at all, and Ebon would be once more under his absolute control and mercy.

His plan to overthrow Megatron was salvaged. After all those times that his plans had failed, this was certainly a welcome change.

* * *

"Report, Teletraan-I," Optimus said, standing in front of the main monitor in the control room. "Were there any Decepticons in sight??"

"Negative, Optimus Prime. No Decepticon activity detected."

"Very well. Remain on standby and set off the alarm at 08:00 hours. Cosmos, Powerglide, Hoist, Skids and Huffer will be on the first shift."

"Order acknowledged. Set on standby," With that, Teletraan-I's lights dimmed.

That, Optimus supposed, was his cue to retire to his dorm. He would have a long day tomorrow, and he needed all the rest he could get.

He was still on his way there when he noticed that the light in the common room was on. Optimus had to admit that he hadn't expected that; the celebration was over a while ago, and the Autobot leader was sure that all his subordinates had already gone to recharge. Apparently, there was still someone awake.

Sure enough, Faera was still inside, sitting quietly on the couch. Her head was bowed, and she was looking thoughtfully at an electrum knife in her hands.

"Faera?"

She looked up, hardly surprised; she had probably heard Optimus's footsteps. "Starscream had this," she said, answering the Autobot leader's questioning look. "He was ready to use it on me, but Ebon objected."

Optimus frowned, concerned. "Can that knife kill you?"

"If my teeth and claws don't deal with its wielder first, sure," she replied, shrugging a bit. "Life is a constant battle with death, Optimus. Sadjens just learned to put up damn good fights. At least… they should." She paused for a moment, feeling the golden-coloured blade with light fingers. "The energy magnet works."

"Yes, I know," Optimus said, sitting next to her. "Jazz also told me about the nitroglycerine. It looks like Starscream made sure Ebon would be untouchable."

Faera's lips tugged to a small, sad smile. "Not quite."

Optimus faced her, perplexed, but she continued on.

"When a Sadjen dies, their body turns to ash and crumbles, never to be seen again. In a way… they cease to exist."

It was then that things became clear to Optimus. The nitroglycerine-filled spikes would become harmless if the very object they were latched onto vanished. But, that also meant that Ebon would have to…

"I see," he said softly. "You now have a reason to kill him."

"And I despise the Decepticons all the more for it," she said, hands clenching the blade tightly.

The Autobot leader couldn't help but feel guilty. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen."

Her features softened, the spark of anger extinguished just as quickly as it had ignited. "I know. But something tells me it would have happened anyway." In the next moment, she clasped her hand in Optimus's, locking her eyes on his optics. "That's why I want to ask a favour of you."

"Tell me," Optimus said.

She offered him the electrum blade. "If anything happens to me while Ebon is still alive… use it."

Optimus felt his optics widening in shock. "Don't think like that!"

"Someone will have to do it if I don't succeed, and you'll be merciful enough to make it quick," Faera retorted. She shut her eyes, still offering the blade. "Don't force me to beg you."

Optimus didn't want that, of course. If anything, it made him realise how important this was to Faera. So, finally relenting, he took the knife and placed it into subspace.

"As you wish."

She sighed, clearly relieved. "Thank you."

He didn't answer. He just squeezed her hand gently and stayed with her, the silence of the room surrounding them both.

**THE END. **

_A/n: Yup, that's it for now. As some readers have probably guessed by now, I intend to make this an ongoing series. I've already made a draft for the second sequel, although it will be a while before I start really working on it. So many plot bunnies, so little time… __*sigh*_


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